Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You might ask yourself, how does one end up in front of a supervillain in an apartment complex. Ren doesn't know that's for sure. 

Guess this stuff can happen when you search on Craigslist for a place to live. He should have known that something was off based on the name of the person who posted the offer. Either way, Ren wasn't going to question it since he needed a place to live. Now he wished he did. 

Not only was he facing a supervillain outside their front door, it was the supervillain Doctor Goat, robotics and all, and here's Ren Dog just staring at him. Why he isn't running, he's unsure.

"Are you the person from Craigslist?" Doctor Goat asked, breaking the silence. 

Ren blinks a few times before answering. 

"Yep," Ren says after a minute of trying to compose himself.

"Well it's nice to meet you, want to come in and look around?" Doctor Goat asks before opening up the door a bit more to let Ren in. 

"Sure," Ren responded. Maybe if he was in his full mind instead of only running on 4 hours of sleep, and not in need of a place as bad as he was, he would have declined and walked away. Instead he accepted the offer and walked straight inside, the door closing behind him. 

The living room was a good size, with a couch, coffee table, bookshelf, and a TV. Ren then walked to the kitchen, plenty of room to cook, with a half wall separating it from the living. A dining table sat next to the wall, a pantry to the side of it. Then Ren noticed the two fridges next to said pantry.

"Umm… why are there two fridges?" Ren asked. 

"One is for potion ingredients, the others for food," Doctor Goat answered. 

"Oh," Ren immediately leaves the kitchen, going down the hall and into the bathroom and locks the door. 

What have I gotten myself into, he thinks to himself. 

"Well I'm too far in to not see what his offer is," Ren says to himself. 

Taking a few deep breaths he unlocks the bathroom door and exits. 

Now facing Doctor Goat he asks, "how much?"

"Oh I'll pay rent, all I need you to do is sign the lease," Doctor Goat answered. 

"Wait, that's all."

"Yep, I would do it myself but I'm kinda a well known supervillain soooo…"

"That's true, I guess," Ren said to no one in particular. 

"So is that a deal?"

Ren thinks for a second. 

"Deal," he says. 

Doctor Goat takes out a piece of paper, presumably the lease, and hands it to Ren. 

Ren glances over it to make sure it was the lease instead of a contract for something else, then signs it, handing it back to Doctor Goat. 

"Thank you," Doctor Goat says, taking the lease.

Wow never thought I would be thanked by Doctor Goat, Ren thinks to himself. 

"Well since we're going to be roommates, I better introduce myself. My name's Doc," Doctor—well Doc—says holding out his hand for a handshake. 

"Ren Dog," Ren replied, taking Doc's hand and shaking it. 

—

Ren eventually gets all his stuff into his new room, leaving it in the boxes to unpack the next day, too tired from last night's patrol to care at the moment. The bed was definitely better than what he had before and soon enough he's asleep.

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Oh, did I forget to tell you? Ren's a vigilante.

Chapter Text

It took a while for Ren to wake up the next morning. Rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes and sits up. Then he remembered what happened the day before. More specifically, that he's now roommates with one of the more dangerous supervillains. 

That wakes him up fully. 

What was he thinking? Not only did he agree to be roommates with a villain, but the villain in question also has a personal vendetta against his vigilante persona. I guess that'll happen when you embarrass a villain in front of the whole city. 

Well, at least he got a decent place to live, even with the chance of being murdered in his sleep. Yeah he'll have to ask about that. 

Ren eventually gets up, gets dressed, and walks out to the kitchen to get some coffee in his system. Maybe his new roommate will be out and about in the city.

—

Doc was not out and about in the city. Instead he was sitting at the kitchen table reading some blueprints for, what Ren assumed, a new weapon of mass destruction. 

"Morning, Ren," Doc greets casually, not looking up from his blueprints. 

Ren jumps slightly, thankfully Doc was looking at something else. "Morning," he says after a minute. 

The silence is loud as Ren awkwardly goes over to the coffee machine only to realize the carafe is missing. 

"Hey Doc?"

"Yes?"

"Where's the carafe?"

"The what?"

"You know, the pitcher for the coffee machi-" Ren suddenly stops as he turns to see said carafe in the hands of Doc. Holding the carafe in one hand, he continues to look at his blueprints, taking a sip of coffee straight from the carafe. 

"Doc, why are you drinking from the carafe?" Ren asked. 

"Need my daily intake of coffee in the morning," Doc replied casually. 

Ren just looks at Doc with a confused and concerned face. "Who needs that much coffee in the morning?! Do you even have anything in it or is it just straight coffee?"

"Straight coffee."

"How are you able to drink that?"

Doc just smiles to himself for a minute before responding, "skill."

Ren just looks dumbfounded before he just turns around to grab a glass from the cupboard, adding a keurig to his mental shopping list.

Once he's grabbed a glass, he starts filling it up with water. 

I can just head to Red Velvet later and get a coffee there. I'm sure everyone there will be glad I got a place, Ren thinks to himself. 

"So… whatcha working on?" Ren asked after a moment of silence.

"A potion launcher. At the moment I'm trying to find the issue," Doc replied. 

"Can I see it for a second?"

"If you want but if I can't find the it I doubt you cou-"

"And there. Hope that helps." Ren interrupts as he hands back the blueprint back to Doc, said man taking it back immediately and looking at the change Ren made. 

"How the hell did you figure it out?" Doc asked, dumbfounded by Ren's change. 

Ren just looks at Doc with a smug look.

"Skill."

Chapter Text

The Red Velvet Cat Café wasn’t that far from Ren's apartment, it being just a few blocks down, so why not go down there to get his coffee. 

Ren could eventually see the Café from where he was, the hanging sign with the name of the place and the iconic gray and white cat painted on it. He still can't get over the fact that Scar had painted that sign, it was simple yet beautiful. 

Ren reaches the door of the Café. Entering into the place he felt surprisingly calmed, the smell of pastries hitting his nose in a way that just soothes one's senses. Not to mention the familiar cat walking around the place and resting on cat towers. 

Soon enough, Ren reached the register. The person behind it was a short, dirty blond man with dark brown eyes and a red sweater under his pine green apron. There was a name tag on the apron reading 'Grian' on it. 

"Mornin' dude," Ren greeted with a wave to Grian. 

"Morning, Ren. How has finding a place been so far, you know you could always stay with me and Scar if needed," Grian replied. Straight to the point it seemed. 

"No need to worry my dude, already found a place."

"Oh really, glad to hear that."

"Yep, got a good deal on an apartment a few blocks down the road from here," what Ren wouldn't mention is that the deal was to just sign the lease. 

"Well our offer still stands," Grian continued. 

"I'll keep that in mind G."

"Anyway, what would you like?" Grian asked, not that he didn't already know the answer. 

"You know me, dude. I'll have my usual," Ren replied. 

"Alright then, it'll be ready in just a moment."

"Wait, I think you forgot to-" 

"It's on the house," Grian interrupted. 

"Oh well thank you."

"Not a problem."

And with that Grian went to the back to fix Ren's order. 

—

After saying hi to Scar (he gave Ren an elven kiss cookie) and getting his cinnamon latte, he starts to head back home.

Wonder if Doc is home, Ren thinks as he walks down the sidewalk taking a sip from his latte.

There's a loud boom in the distance as something goes off, the laughter of Doctor Goat can be heard even from where Ren is standing. To be fair though, Ren was a wolf hybrid so he could hear better than a normal person, but still.

Guess that answers my question. I should probably go make sure everyone is away from there. 

Ren chugs the rest of his latte, throwing it into a nearby trash can, as he walks into an alley, melting into the shadows.

—

The street was a wreck. The road had holes from what looked like explosions and buildings had a few broken windows. All in all a pretty typical scene of a villain battle.

Ren watches from a distance, hidden in the shadows of a different alleyway. He already made sure all the remaining citizens were out of the cross-fire, so all there was left to do was watch. 

"Just give up and turn yourself in, Doctor Goat, or else," the hero said. Ren recognized the hero as Silver Knight, with his hero costume consisting of a full set of silver colored medieval armor and his signature arming sword, though at the moment he didn't seem to be in such good shape.

Considering that his stance was a bit shaky, Ren would assume that in the next few hits Silver Knight would be knocked out. 

"Or else what Knight, gonna come at me with that sword of your's? You can barely keep yourself up right now and you think you can take me down, how pathetic," Doc replied, a smug look on his face as he looked down at Silver Knight. 

At this Silver Knight gave a battle cry and lunged at Doc. Ren was impressed, really, but knew it was pointless as soon as Doc dodged and gave an explosion-filled punch to the side of the hero's head.

Silver Knight fell to the ground after the punch, thrown across and thoroughly passed out on the pavement. 

"You should've just given up when you knew you wouldn't have won," Doc said to the now unconscious hero.

"You know, you could have gone a little easy on the guy," Ren said from the shadows, his voice sounding a bit different as he put on his act. 

Doc starts to look around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Where are you, you mutt," Doc yells out, still looking around.

Ren comes out of the shadows and out into the street. His vigilante costume consisted of a large hooded robe that looked as though it was made of shadows. His face, from the tip of his nose up, was covered in an almost pitch black shadow. The only thing visible in that shadow was the color of his eyes, but instead of a bright blue they were a bit grayed out, same thing with the little skin that was visible under the robe. He looked more like a villain if you didn't know who he was. 

"Words hurt you know," Ren says, mock sadness lacing his tone.

"Like you even care. What do you want, Grimm Dog?" Doc asked, obviously already annoyed at the others' presence. 

"Just stopping to say hi, you know like friends do," Ren—well Grimm Dog at the moment—replied, enjoying Doc's annoyance.

"Well you said hi now leave."

"And if I said no?" Grimm Dog decided to press buttons that a sane person wouldn't dare press. 

"You'll get blown to bits," Doc answered.

"Oh really now?"

As soon as Grimm Dog asked an exploding fist went through his face, literally.

"Shit," Doc said, pulling his fist back in disappointment. Grimm Dog's face came back together as soon as Doc's fist was out of the way. "You can still do that during the day," Doc said, more as an annoying observation than a question. 

"Just because I work more towards the end of the day doesn't mean that I'm weaker during the day Doctor," Grimm Dog said with a smirk on his face. "Now if you'll excuse me," Grimm Dog goes past Doc, towards where Silver Knight landed. 

Doc goes in for an attack while Grimm Dog is turned around, only for a scythe to appear at his throat.

"Have you learned nothing from our fights, Doctor. Attacks from behind never work in your favor." Grimm Dog's smirk grows in size as he looks at Doc.

Doc just sighs in annoyance and leaves, the only remaining people are Grimm Dog and Silver Knight. 

"Now where's your communicator, you hero's always seem to have one," Grimm Dog talks to himself as he searches Silver Knight for a communicator.

He eventually finds it attached to one of the arm pieces of armor, and uses the unconscious hero's finger to unlock it. Sending a message to the hero base. 

"Hello, Grimm Dog here. Sending a message from azalea street to tell you that you'll need to bring a team over to pick up Silver Knight. Signing out."

Grimm Dog sends the message and goes into a nearby alley, blending into the shadows, waiting for the hero team to show. 

—

Eventually the hero team came to pick up the injured hero, loading Silver Knight into the back of an ambulance. Some of the hero's stuck around the area, either helping the cleaning crew or to patrol the area.

It seems like everything is handled around here, Ren thinks to himself as he heads back to his apartment, traveling through the shadows of the alley.

I wonder how Doc is doing. 

Chapter Text

To say Doc was doing fine was an understatement, he was doing grand. So grand, infact, that he was punching walls all the way home. What could he say, punching stuff is an easy way to blow off steam. Besides he can't really punch walls in the apartment, he might break them.

He also didn't want to scare Ren.

Ren was just a normal citizen, he shouldn't have to deal with the backlash of Doc's anger. 

Doc takes a few deep breaths. He could see the apartment complex from where he was, so calming down a bit was necessary. 

—

Ren got home a bit later in the day, having decided to stop by the grocery store on the way to get a few things.

With bags in one hand, and a box on the ground, he opened the door to the apartment. Once inside, he sets the bags and box down on the dining table to put away.

There was a slight hum of power tools coming from Doc's room, Ren would have to get used to that. If this was what being roommates with a powerful supervillain was like, he probably would've done it sooner.

Opening up one of the fridges, to put food in, he stops and stares at the contents inside. Jars of different potion ingredients stare back. He immediately closes the fridge. 

I should label the fridges at some point, Ren thinks.

He opens the other fridge to put food in, putting the basic necessities of milk, eggs, and butter, plus some other stuff like vegetables and sauce.

He closes the door to the fridge and puts the rest of the stuff he got away, including the keurig. Soon after, Doc comes into the kitchen. Carafe in hand, he puts it in the coffee machine and starts making more coffee.

"Jeez dude, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack with how much coffee you're drinking. How much have you had now anyway?" Ren asked, a bit concerned at how much coffee his new roommate is drinking. 

"Not enough," Doc answered, tiredly.

"Ok, no more coffee for you mister," with that said Ren turns off the coffee machine and gets between it and Doc. "You are going to relax on that couch and pick out a movie for the two of us to watch while I make us some dinner. Now how do you feel about spaghetti?"

Doc seemed a bit confused at this. The way Ren was acting, Doc could easily confuse him for a mother. He decided to go along with it. "Fine, mom."

Ren chuckled at being called mom. "Good, now go pick a movie."

—

They ended up watching 'The Lego Movie' while eating spaghetti together, on the couch. 

Ren found that it was quite domestic, in a way, and enjoyed every second of it. It had been a while since he felt like that, and he's learned to cherish moments like this. 

Maybe living with Doc won't be as bad as he initially thought. 

Chapter Text

Ren's phone alarm blared in his ear as it went off, and if he fell out of the bed because of it, he didn't. He immediately turns off his alarm and looks at the time, it was six in the morning…. Oh yeah he had to go to work today.

Now fully awake, Ren quickly gets ready for work. Dressed in a red polo shirt and jeans, he heads to the kitchen. Then he noticed the smell of pancakes. 

Walking further into the kitchen, he could see Doc in front of the stove cooking what Ren knew were pancakes, a plate of them sitting on the counter. There was something off about them though.

"Ren, you ok dude, I heard a thump come from your room," Doc questioned. 

"I'm ok, but I do have a question."

"Ask away."

"How are the pancakes shaped like octagons?"

"I…don't know. It just happens when I pour the batter in the pan," Doc answered, sounding a bit confused himself. 

"Can I try to make one?" Ren asked.

"Have at it," Doc replied, moving away from the stove.

Ren immediately took his place, taking the pancake batter and pouring it in the pan. To Ren's disappointment, and confusion, the pancake batter did not form into an octagon. Instead it was more of an imperfect oval-like thing.

Doc put a hand on Ren's shoulder. "Don't worry Ren, we can try again another time," Doc said, trying to comfort Ren.

"How does one even make octagon pancakes?"

"The world may never know. Now enjoy some pancakes," Doc answered, gesturing over to the finished pancakes. 

Ren took a few pancakes off the stack, drowning them in syrup. Even with their weird shape, they were delicious, and soon enough they were gone and he was heading to Red Velvet Café.

—

Going inside the Red Velvet Café always brought a calm sense of relief with it. Maybe it was because of the smell of freshly baked pastries or the adorable cats walking around the place, but it was always calming walking in. That with the fact the owners were very kind people, was probably why Ren liked working here.

"Good morning Ren," someone behind the counter greeted. It was one of the owners, Scar, wearing a white button up shirt under his pine green apron. He wheels himself out from behind the counter, letting Ren through.

"Mornin' dude," Ren greeted back with a wave.

"So, how have you been enjoying your new place?" Scar asked, curiosity lining his tone.

"It's been great, surprisingly, woke up to my roommate making octagon pancakes. How one makes octagon shaped pancakes, I don't know, but they were good," Ren says while grabbing his own pine green apron.

"Oh, you have a roommate? You didn't mention that yesterday. What are they like?"

"You know…" SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT AAAAAAH HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS! "He's pretty weird, in a good way," Ren answered, an ironically calm smile on his face.

"Oh really? You should bring him over sometime. Get some treats, on the house of course," Scar says, completely oblivious to the freak out going on in Ren's head.

"I'll see about it."

Soon after their conversation was over people started coming in. It was a pretty steady day, if Ren said so himself. Him and Scar would switch between counter and kitchen multiple times throughout the day, a typical work day Ren would say.

—

Just as the clock struck three, a person in a simple white t-shirt and jeans ran in and behind the counter, almost running Ren down.

"Careful dude, you're gonna trip on somethin'," Ren said.

"And maybe you shouldn't have been in the way, I was almost a minute late," the person Ren recognized as Bdubs replied. Ren just laughed.

"You are the only person I know that would be worried about that."

"Being on time is a necessity, if you aren't you could just ruin your whole day," Bdubs explained, putting on his apron. 

"Well it was nice chattin' with ya Bdubs but imma head home," Ren said, hanging up his own apron.

"Have a safe trip home," Bdubs said with a wave.

"Oh you know I will."

"Last time you said that, you came to work covered in cuts and bruises. If I recall you said that you fell down some stairs, even though it was pretty obvious that you got mugged." Neither of those stories were true, it was just one of his first patrols as Grimm Dog. 

"I'll be careful dude, don't worry," Ren reassured.

"Fine, but if you come to work with more injuries than I can count I swear-" Bdubs was interrupted by the door chime. "Just be safe alright."

"I will."

And with that they parted ways, Bdubs staying in the Café for his shift and Ren heading back to his apartment. 

Chapter Text

If you were to ask Grimm Dog his thoughts on being a vigilante, he'd say he loves it. Being able to just use your power for the hell of it was wonderful, protecting people was just a plus. Maybe if he were to go a bit further down than what he was he would be considered a villain, but he didn't want that so… gotta deal with whatcha got I guess.

—

If you were to ask Ren his thoughts on being a vigilante, he'd say it was ok. Being able to save people that the hero's aren't able to is great, but can be a bit stressful at times. It's not like he chose this role anyway, it was more along the lines of, the role chose him. 

He wasn't going to complain about it though, Grimm Dog had patrol tonight anyway and he had to figure out how he was getting out of the house without Doc noticing. Said man was in his room tinkering with devices he made.

There was a window at the end of Ren's room that connected to a fire escape. Quietly he goes and locks his door. Once done he goes and slowly opens the window, and dawning his vigilante look he climbs out of it. 

That was surprisingly easy, Ren thought after carefully closing the window.

With that out of the way, Ren melted into the shadows. No use just standing around in one place, he would get bored.

—

There wasn't that much going on that night, only a few minor criminals here and there. Each one of them ended up zipped tied to a light pole, all weapons in a pile just out of reach to be annoying. Just how Grimm Dog liked it.

Maybe he had sadistic tendencies every now and again, but could you really blame him. Being a public nuisance was fun and some people were thanking him for it. Grimm Dog couldn't have it better if he tried.

At the moment he was just sitting on the edge of a roof, feet dangling off the edge, and looking at the moon. It was a pretty crescent shape that night.

His ear twitched a bit, hearing footsteps in the once peaceful quiet.

"Trying to sneak up on me are you," Grimm Dog says, not turning around to see who it was. It was obvious that he startled whoever was there, if the step back he heard was anything to go by. "It's very disrespectful to try and attack somebody from behind, you know."

"What makes you think I would attack you?" The person asked. Grimm Dog recognized this voice.

He turned around and stood up from his sitting position. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw the hero HotGuy standing in front of him, the top half of his face hidden behind black makeup and orange and blue sunglasses. His iconic orange and blue symbol on his chest, a quiver full of different arrows on his back, a utility belt around his waist, and his famous bow in hand.

"Oh HotGuy, what a pleasure to see you," Grimm Dog greets, ignoring the previous question. 

"Pleasures all mine. Now tell me what's a fine vigilante like yourself doing up here?" HotGuy asked. 

"Just enjoying the moonlight," Grimm Dog replied. This was weird if you asked him. Most people that find him look to either capture or kill him, so having a hero just talk to him was just a bit suspicious.

"The moon is pretty now isn't it."

"Sure is. Now why are you here?"

HotGuy just sighs a bit, smile falling a bit but still there. "Straight to the point I see."

"Yes, now please answer."

"Alright, I just wanted to personally thank you for what you did the other day."

What!?

"You could've just left Silver Knight on the ground, but instead you got ahold of the hero association through his communicator and sent an emergency message to come over there to help him and for that I am eternally grateful," HotGuy continued. 

This didn't make any sense to Grimm Dog, why wasn't the hero trying to catch him. He is a vigilante after all. It made no sense. He'll just go along with it. "Just doing what I do best."

"Annoying Doctor Goat?"

"Yep."

HotGuy laughs at that. "Well I better get going, gotta find CuteGuy before he can chew my head off about not getting lost in the city. Have a nice rest of your night." And with that he was gone.

Yelp, that was weird, Grimm Dog thinks. 

Grimm Dog resumed his patrol for a good thirty minutes more before he went back to the apartment, climbing in through the window and landing on the bedroom floor. 

—

Ren just layed in bed for the rest of the night thinking about everything he watched happen, like every night he goes on patrol. Guess he didn't need to worry about heroes chasing him around for a while.

Chapter Text

A few days have passed since, what Ren called, the incident. Maybe he was just overthinking it, it was just an apology after all. He had better stuff to do anyway, like hang out with Doc. It was Ren's day off and they haven't really hung out outside of their shared apartment, so why not.

Ren exited his bedroom and began to knock on Doc's door. "Hey Doc~" Ren said through the door, adding a bit of dramatics to his tone. He can hear Doc sigh, through the door, as he comes to open it.

"What do you want, Ren?" Doc asked, a small smile visible on his face.

"Well, since it's my day off, I thought we could go out to get coffee and visit the park. You know, have some good ol' fashioned bonding time dude," Ren answered, bouncing up and down on the heels of his feet.

"You know I can't really go outside without getting recognized, right?" Doc asked in a joking manner.

"Oh," Ren's ears went down a bit, in disappointment, then perked up immediately after. "What if we could give you a disguise?"

"Thought you'd never ask," He said before heading back into his room. 

Ren, slightly confused, tries to listen to what's going on in the room. He only hears footsteps before the door opens up again, though Doc looks different. Instead of completely green skin, there are only green freckles dotting his face. Where his robotics were on his face was replaced with healthy skin. The robotic eye was replaced with a normal eye that was colored red, his other staying the same, a black sclera with a white pupil. The only thing that stayed the same were his prosthetic arm and scent. To say the least, he looked different. 

"So, what do you think?" Doc asked, looking at a baffled Ren.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Ren asked, gesturing at Doc's new look.

"Since today. Just finished a little project of mine, a ring that can change the appearance of the wearer," Doc explained, showing off a gold ring with a bit of redstone on top. "It for some reason can't change my arm here but that can easily be covered up with a coat and glove."

Ren was enamored with the ring and its ability. "That's awesome dude. Does that mean we can go out?"

"Sure does."

"Yeah baby, now hurry up so we can go."

With that, Doc gets ready and they head out the door.

—

Ren decided the first place they should go to was the Red Velvet Café, Scar did say to bring his roommate over to get some goodies so why not. What Ren forgot to mention though was that it was a cat café. The only reason Doc figured it out was through the intricately designed sign that hung outside the place, and he wasn't going to tell Ren that he didn't want to go in.

This was going to be fun.

"Hello there, Ren. What brings you over here on this fine day," the person behind the counter greeted. This must've been Scar, if the scars visible and the wheelchair were anything to go by. Ren told him a few stories of the man doing wheelies in it.

"Hey, Scar. Thought I might bring over my roommate to get some of those delicious cookies, like you suggested," Ren greeted back. Doc just waved at Scar. At this point, Doc was just hoping that none of the cats here would come near him.

"So this is the roommate I've been hearing about?"

"Yep. Doc this is Scar, Scar this is Doc," Ren introduced them both.

"Nice to finally meet, Ren's been telling me a bit about his coworkers as well," Doc greeted, shaking hands with Scar. 

"Hopefully good things I presume," Scar joked as he shook Doc's hand.

"What bad things are there to talk about, dude? Like, seriously, you're the best boss a person could ask for."

"I heard that!" Someone yells from the kitchen.

"Don't worry, Grian, the same goes for you too!" Ren yells back. 

"So, what may I get you both on this fine day?" Scar asked 

"I'll have my usual. What you getting Doc?"

"Hmm, I'll have the Monopoly Mountain Frappé and an Elven Cookie."

"Good choices, that'll be ready in just a moment." With that, Scar heads back towards the kitchen area to help Grian, leaving a confused Doc and a happy Ren.

"Did he just…"

"Forget to collect payment? No, he did that on purpose. He does that sometimes with friends and family."

"Oh, well," Doc digs in his pocket and pulls out a wallet, putting a twenty in the tip jar. "Wouldn't hurt to pay that kindness back now would it?" He says as he puts his wallet back in his pocket, a smile on his face.

"I wouldn't tell Scar you did that, he would probably take it out and give it right back to you if he knew," Ren joked, but he could definitely imagine Scar doing that.

"Then keep your mouth shut and we won't have anything to worry about," Doc replied, putting a finger over his mouth to, jokingly, tell Ren not to say a word. 

"My lips are sealed, my dude."

At this point, a certain gray and white cat decided it would be a good idea to rub up against Doc's legs. Doc immediately jumped at the contact. Ren just laughed at the situation. 

"What are you laughing at!?" 

"Dude, you almost reached the ceiling," Ren said through laughter. 

"Wouldn't you? Those…things…are menaces to society," Doc responded, gesturing at the cat that Ren was now picking up.

"You aren't a menace, are you Jellie?" Ren cooed at the cat as he petted it.

"Yes. Yes it is," Doc said, plainly.

"Aw come on Doc, look at her, she's adorable," Ren says, holding Jellie out towards Doc. Doc backed away a bit from the cat, and Ren's smile shrunk a bit. "You're not scared of cats now, are you," Ren asked.

"N-no just don't like them is all," Doc stuttered. That gave all the answer Ren needed to put Jellie down with one last pet before she walked off.

"You know you could've just told me and I wouldn't have brought you here, right?"

"Yeah, but you finally had a day off and I didn't want to ruin your plans for today," Doc answered, a bit embarrassed at the whole situation.

"Hey, you wouldn't have ruined anything, we could've just gone to a different coffee place."

"I know, but you were so excited to introduce me to some of your other friends I kind of got excited too. And besides, this place ain't so bad. I can just ignore the cats and I'll be fine, don't worry about it."

Ren just sighed and gave Doc a smile and a light punch to the shoulder.

"Now what was that for?" Doc asked, with a chuckle.

"Just because," Ren replied.

—

They eventually got their drinks and cookies and left, saying goodbye to both Grian and Scar as they headed to the park. They ended up sitting on a bench and talking about random stuff until the sun set. All in all, a pretty great day.

Chapter Text

He was back on that rooftop, someone holding his neck in a tight grip.

"THIS CITY WILL FALL BY MY HAND!" They shout. He flinched at the noise. "LET THIS BOY BE AN EXAMPLE TO EVERYONE WHO GETS IN MY WAY!"

He feels a sharp pain in his back, around where his heart is, before he is dropped from the roof. Pain soon erupted throughout his body as he fell.

—

Ren woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. A headache already forming in the back of his head. Shit! I thought I had more time, Ren thought, panic instantly taking over. How was he supposed to explain this to Doc without the man worrying about him.

"Ren, you doing ok?" Doc asked from behind the door. 

Ren stared at the door for a moment before answering. "I'm fine, don't worry," that was a lie, his head was pounding.

"Alright well, I made breakfast. Want me to bring it to you?"

Yes, please, "no, I'm good. I'll be out in a second."

"Ok, I'll see you in a bit," Doc said, before stepping away from the door and towards the kitchen.

Ren eventually gets up and out of bed, deciding to rock out a t-shirt and sweatpant, might as well try to be comfortable before the inevitable. Then heads out to the kitchen.

—

Something was definitely wrong with Ren.

His first piece of evidence that something was wrong was that Ren wasn't up yet. Now that on its own ain't weird, considering that Doc's always the first to get up, but Ren had always gotten up a few minutes afterwards. So, when his friend didn't get up until after he came to his door was a bit concerning. 

The second thing that gave it away was the fact that Ren was deathly pale and didn't have his usual morning attitude. Instead of his usual warm smile and asking Doc how his projects were coming along, he wobbled into the kitchen, grabbed a cup of straight coffee, ate breakfast, then left back to his room.

Ren never drank straight coffee, he always filled at least one sixth of his cup of coffee with whatever special creamer he grabbed first. Hell, Ren even asked Doc how he can drink that stuff during his first full day living here. So seeing Ren drinking it with only the slightest wrinkle of his nose was all Doc needed to see to know something was up.

He couldn't just leave Ren like that so he started coming up with a plan to try and make Ren feel better. Without even a second thought, he put on his disguise ring and civilian clothes and heads out the door. Not before he tells Ren he's heading out.

—

Doc headed out of the pharmacy with a bag full of different over-the-counter medicine, ranging from stuff for colds to simple Tylenol for headaches and other pain, and started to head towards a certain cat café.

He enters, the bell above the door announcing his presence, as he heads to the counter. Meeting with the red sweatered man, cleaning up a bit as Doc came behind the counter. 

"Hey Grian," Doc greeted as he got to the counter. 

"Oh hey Doc, didn't expect you to be here today," Grian replied, stopping what he was doing and going to the register. 

"Me neither to be honest, I'm not much of a people person. That's what Ren's for," Doc said, slightly chuckling at the end.

Grian laughs at that. "Very true, more so now than ever really. Where is he anyway?" He asked.

"Yeah, about that…that's actually why I came here. Do you have anything that would be good and tasty for when you're not feeling well?" Doc asked, grimacing a bit at remembering Ren's disheveled look.

"Oh no, is he doing alright?" Grian asked, now concerned. 

"He isn't looking too hot or acting like himself, but I guess that can happen when you aren't feeling well," Doc replied. 

"Wait right here and I'll get some things together for you," Grian said before running back to the kitchen to grab some stuff. 

While Grian was gone, Doc slipped another twenty into the tip jar. Laughing to himself as he did so, as if he was setting up a prank.

Soon after Grian comes back with a few small containers and sits them on the counter, already starting to bag them up. "Alright, here are some lemon panna cottas for you to take to Ren, and a few extra if you want some as well. Heard from somewhere that soft desserts with lemon are good to have when sick," Grian said while handing the bag to Doc. 

"Thank you so much, man," Doc said, as he took the bag with his free hand.

"Not a problem, make sure Ren gets enough rest for me."

"Oh I will, don't worry."

"Good. Have a great rest of your day Doc."

"You too."

With bags in hand, Doc exits the café and heads back home.

—

When Doc got home he immediately put this medicine on the table and put the panna cottas in the food fridge, keeping one in hand to give to Ren, and went to Ren's door. He knocks.

"Who is it?" Ren asked from inside, sounding worn out.

"It's Doc. I brought you something. Can I come in?" He asked. Doc wasn't going to just barge into his friend's room without permission, that was saved for more important occasions. 

"Sure," Ren answered, tiredly. 

At the confirmation Doc opens the door carefully. Ren's room was dark, all his lights were off and the bit of light that came in through the window was partially covered by a curtain. The man himself was huddled in some blankets, almost looking comfortable. Doc noticed the way Ren's ears were pressed down against his head. Must have a headache, Doc thought as he got closer.

"Grian said that lemon treats are good for when you're sick so he gave me some lemon panna cottas to give to you," Doc said, handing Ren the lemon treat and a spoon.

"Thank you," Ren said, before taking the treat.

"Not a problem. Need anything else?"

"I think I'll be ok for now." 

"Alright then, I'll bring you some Tylenol and leave you to rest," Doc said before heading towards the door.

"Ok," Ren replied, simply, as Doc went and got him some Tylenol.

Maybe things will be better by tomorrow. 

—

Things were far from better. If anything, Doc would say it was worse and it wasn't even morning. 

It was midnight when Doc heard the faint sound of whimpering and sniffles coming from Ren's room. He decided this was a time he didn't need permission, and opened the door. The room was darker than it was before but Doc could still see where Ren was. 

Ren was huddled into a corner, on the bed. Hands gripping his hair, knees pulled up to his chest, and shaking violently as the whimpers of what Doc assumed was pain continued. 

All in all, it was heartbreaking to watch. Seeing Ren in so much pain hurt and the worst part about it was that he didn't know what to do. He was Doctor Goat for crying out loud, the infamous mad scientist that could destroy city blocks within seconds, he should be able to handle this. But he couldn't, he didn't know what to do and that scared him. He should be there for Ren but he was too much of a cowar-

"D-Doc," Ren stuttered, looking up. Doc could see tears continue to fall down his friend's face as they locked eyes. This snapped Doc back into reality. Ren needed comfort. 

"Ren, what happened?" Doc questioned, coming closer to Ren. Doc doesn't notice Ren's eyes fading back and forth from a bright blue to gray, as Ren pushes himself further into the corner. Doc stops a few steps away from the bed. "Hey, it's just me, don't worry," Doc said in a, hopefully, calm voice.

Ren just shakes his head and looks away from Doc, and he risks it. Taking the last few steps towards the bed, he sits down in front of Ren and pulls him into a gentle hug. Ren's head buried into his metal shoulder as he rubs circles on his friend's back. 

Doc suddenly feels a sharp pain in his shoulder, teeth digging into the metal of his shoulder. Ren was biting his shoulder. Not only that but h Me was also clawing at Doc's arms, trying to get him to let go, but he didn't. 

There was something off about Ren at that moment, but Doc didn't know what. All he knew was that this wasn't the Ren he knew and so Doc kept a hold on him. He would probably get called stupid later but he didn't care. All he cared about at that moment was trying to get Ren calmed down.

So he didn't, no matter how hard Ren bit down or if he started to feel some of his blood run down his arm, Doc continued. Rubbing circles into his back and holding Ren's head while rubbing his thumb up and down, all while whispering reassurances. 

The grip Ren had on his shoulder left as soon as Doc heard a sniffle. His friend's hands coming down and around his torso, gripping onto the fabric on Doc's back as he heard a muffled sob come from the man.

"I'm sorry," Ren said through his tears as he held onto Doc. 

"It's alright," Doc replied.

"It's not alright, I hurt you. I…why aren't you mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

"Ren, you were obviously not in control during it. I can also tell that you are in a lot of pain. So no I'm not mad at you, I'm worried for you." Doc explained. 

"But-"

"No buts. Now I'm going to the bathroom real quick to patch up a bit, you're going to stay here and make yourself comfortable. I'll be back once I'm done with my own pillows and blankets, do I make myself clear," Doc said, purposely making himself sound like a mother, making Ren laugh a bit. It wasn’t much but it was enough.

So with that out of the way, Doc heads to the bathroom. Once he's there he opens up the cabinet under the sink for their first aid kit. The scratch wasn't deep enough to need any stitching so he only grabbed some gauze and stuff to clean the wound. It would sting but it's better than getting an infection. Was it weird that they had more than one first aid kit, maybe a little, but it was better than none so he wasn't going to complain. 

Doc finishes bandaging the scratch and heads to his room, grabbing his most comfortable pillows and blankets, then heads back to Ren's room. 

Doc could see the full moon from Ren's window as he set up his makeshift bed on the floor next to Ren's bed. The man himself was asleep, not having any nightmares Doc hoped.

With that in mind, he lays down on his makeshift bed, thinking back on what just happened. 

What the hell caused Ren this much pain? He thought as he dozed off. He'll have to ask about it tomorrow when Ren wakes up.

Chapter Text

He was back on that rooftop, full moon shining down as someone held his neck in a tight grip.

"THIS CITY WILL FALL BY MY HAND!" They shout. He flinched at the noise. "LET THIS BOY BE AN EXAMPLE TO EVERYONE WHO GETS IN MY WAY!"

He feels a sharp pain in his back, around where his heart is, before he is dropped from the roof. Pain soon erupted throughout his body as he fell.

Didn't this already happe-

—

Ren woke up like he did the night before, in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. This time though Doc was there, holding him in a comforting hug while rubbing circles into his back. Ren latches on to Doc like his life depended on it, tears rolling down his face.

"Everything will be okay, just let it all out," Doc said, continuing to rub circles on Ren's back. 

And let it out he does, shaking in Doc's hold, until there is nothing more to let out. 

"Better?" Doc asked once Ren pulled back a bit, still in a hug. Ren nods and wipes a few tears off his cheek.

"That's good. Now, what do you want for breakfast?"

"Octagon pancakes, please," Ren answered, voice hoarse.

"I can do that," Doc says before getting up from the bed and holding out a hand towards Ren. He takes it and they walk out of Ren's room and towards the living room. Doc sits Ren down on the couch before heading to the kitchen to make pancakes.

They stayed in an awkward silence as Doc made pancakes. It wasn't that they were purposely not talking to each other, they just didn't know what to say. 

Doc comes back into the living room with his and Ren's octagon pancakes, Ren's pancakes drowned in syrup. 

"You remembered how I liked my pancakes," Ren said as he took his plate.

"Sure did, I only know one person who would drown their pancakes in syrup," Doc said, rather proudly.

Ren laughed. He didn't deserve Doc but somehow that's what he got. He enjoyed every bite of his octagon pancakes until they were gone and Doc took his plate. He then began to wonder how Doc managed to bring both plates to the living room with one functional hand. Doc would most likely say skill and Ren would believe him. Doc eventually came back empty handed, taking a deep breath and looking at Ren. 

"Now that we're both calmed down a bit, could you tell me what happened last night?" Doc asked. 

"I just wasn't feeling well last night," Ren answered. That was kind of the truth, he just down played it a bit.

"We both know that it was more than that," Doc said, giving Ren a pointed look.

"What do you mean?" Ren tried and failed to be not suspicious. 

"Ren, you literally had a panic attack this morning, and we can't forget about last night. You weren't yourself." 

Ren's ears drooped as he remembered what happened last night, looking away from Doc. He couldn't go to sleep thanks to the almost soul-shattering pain he was feeling, not to mention the fact he was trying to stay in control of his own mind at the time as well. He obviously didn't do a good job at that last task.

"I know you might not want to tell me, but I want to help. Seeing you suffer like that yesterday was terrifying and I don't want to see you like that again. So please, just answer my question. Even if it's only partially the truth." Doc said, placing a hand on Ren's shoulder. 

Guess he deserves to know a bit about what happened, Ren thought. Ren took a deep breath. "Every full moon night I feel a pain unimaginable to most. Every night before it I have a nightmare, it's kinda like a reminder that it's still there." Ren explained, what he wasn't going to explain was that part of the reason he was having this pain was indirectly caused by Grimm Dog.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Few years," Ren said. That was the truth. He had been dealing with this whole thing since his college years. Such a fun time that was.

"Why didn't you say anything then? You know I would be willing to help you through it right?" Doc asked, concerned and worried for his friend. 

"I thought I had more time. So when I figured out the hard way…well let's just say I internally panicked and didn't say anything cause I didn't want to worry you. We both see how that went." Ren immediately looks over the bandages and the torn up robotic arm.

"Meer scratches can be bandaged up easily and the other arm can be fixed easily, just need to call someone over to help."

"You wouldn't need to if I could just contr-"

"I would rather lose an arm helping you than to watch you hurt," Doc interrupted. At that Ren looked up to face Doc. The man looked serious. 

"Please don't," Ren said, giving Doc a small smile. 

"I'm serious, Ren."

"Oh I know. I just don't feel like hearing you complain about having only one usable arm," Ren joked, his smile growing into a more smug look.

Doc dramatically gasped at that. "How could you say that. After everything I've just said," he said, pretending to be annoyed. They both laugh at what happened, Ren's tail beating the couch as it wagged.

They weren't fully ok after what happened but maybe a good old fashioned movie night with lemon panna cottas will help.

Chapter Text

After the events of the previous day, Doc had to take off his prosthetic. Did he like it? No. Did he have to though? Yes. He had to see the damage himself, he didn't want to go to someone else to fix it if he didn't have to, though based on the looks of things he definitely had to.

"Hey Ren, I'm heading out. Need anything while I'm gone?" Doc asked.

"I'm good, dude. Thanks for asking," Ren answered from the living room. 

"No problem, I'll be back in, I would say…a few hours. Don't know exactly how long this'll take."

"Alright, have fun."

"I'll try."

With that out of the way Doc carries his damaged prosthetic out the door in a bag, disguise ring on, and heading towards a certain someone's place.

—

Doc knocks. To say he was looking forward to this visit was a lie. You see, this certain someone has been looking for a reason to get a favor from Doc for a while. So for Doc to be asking for help would be the perfect opportunity to get one.

The door opens, revealing a silver haired man with a gray eye, the other behind a head band, and half his face covered by a mask.

"Doc, wasn't expecting you to come over. How's it going," the man greeted. He was slightly shorter than Doc, but not by much.

"I need you to fix something for me, Etho," Doc said, he just wanted to get this over with. 

"Straight to the point I see. Let me guess, you got your arm damaged doing some experiments with new weapons."

"Something like that. Just fix it." Doc held the bag out for Etho to take. 

"You know I don't do things for free Doc."

"I know," Doc said, starting to get annoyed. 

"For fixing your arm your payment will be an IOU," Etho said, quite proud at the moment.

"I know, now can please hurry up and fix it. It feels weird without having two arms."

"Alright, alright, come inside and get comfortable. Bdubs isn't here at the moment so there's plenty of room on the couch." Etho backed out of the doorway to let Doc in. 

Upon entering, Doc immediately sets the bag on the coffee table for Etho to grab when he's ready, and sits down on the couch. 

"Want any tea or anything?" Etho asked, rummaging through his cabinet.

 "Fruit tea if you have it," Doc answered. 

"You're in luck cause I do. It'll be ready in just a moment." With that Etho starts to make one cup of fruit tea and another cup for green tea. Once finished, he brings them to the living room and sets them down on the coffee table.

Doc takes his cup and takes a sip of it. Not only did it smell, it also tasted good as well. 

Etho takes the prosthetic out of the bag to inspect the damage. "Jeez man, what did you get yourself into?" He asked, flabbergasted by all the scratches and the deep bite mark. 

"Just had an incident while walking around town," Doc said, it was a lie of course but a full explanation on what actually happened would bring out too many emotions that he did not want to show. 

"This was one heck of an incident then."

"Are you able to fix it or not?"

"Definitely got to make a new one, but I can maybe salvage some parts from this."

Doc sighed out of annoyance and took a drink of his fruit tea. This was going to take a while. 

"So, since this'll obviously take at least a day to remake, how about some small talk. How have you been doing as of late?" Etho asked.

"Been doing pretty good actually. Finally found a decent coffee place here in town, besides the cats," Doc replied. 

"Oh, I thought you just got over it," Etho said, sounding surprised. 

"Got over what?"

"Your fear of cats. That used to be your biggest fear, you know."

"First of all, I have never been afraid of those menaces to society. Second of all, what is it now?" Doc asked, concerned. Being afraid of cats was easily avoidable, but if that fear got replaced by a bigger one…that could cause some issues.

"I don't know, it might cost ya," Etho said, obviously trying to get more out of Doc. 

"You already have an IOU, what more could you want? All I'm asking is a simple question," Doc replied, he was definitely going to leave once this conversation was over. 

"Chill man, I just want to know who this new friend of yours is. You obviously seem to care about them if your fear of losing them out ranks your fear of cats."

So that's what his new biggest fear was, losing Ren. He had only known the man for maybe a few weeks but he was already fearing losing him. Maybe it was because Ren was just a likable person, or maybe it was because he still accepted Doc as a friend even though he was a villain. Either way this new fear will obviously have a lasting impact on his life if someone were to use it against him. 

He could never let that happen.

"That's none of your business," Doc decided to say, avoiding Etho's question.

"That's fair. Anyway you should get home, it's getting late. I'll start working on your arm and contact you when it's done and tell you about payment, how does that sound?"

"Sounds alright with me. Thank you for the tea and I'll see you once you're done."

With that Doc leaves, still only having one arm, and pondering on the new information he just got.

Chapter Text

Ren was off work today, Grian and Scar saying he couldn't come back to work for a few days thinking he was sick. He told him he was fine but they said that a few days wouldn't hurt.

So now he's home alone. Doc was gone, he had to go get his arm fixed. It was probably going to be a while before he came back. Maybe he could go take a walk in the park, yeah that would be a good idea. 

With that he heads out and starts his trek to the park. 

—

It was a decent day out. Ren sat on one of the benches just feeling the gentle breeze, it felt nice. After everything that happened he felt like he could forget it all and relax a bit. 

"Ren?"

There goes trying to relax.

Ren looked up to see a man that was taller than him, with blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a white shirt under a blue button up. He knew him, of course. It was one of his old high-school friends, Jimmy.

"Oh…um… hey Jim," Ren greeted, nervously. 

"It really is you. I haven't seen you since…" Jimmy pauses then continues. "How have you been doing?"

Ren knew what he was going to say and was happy he didn't bring it up. "I've been living," Ren answered. 

"That's good to hear. Me and the others have been wondering how you've been doing since everything that happened. You kind of just disappeared."

"Yeah, but everything's okay now so no need to worry. How have you been?"

"I've been doing great, got a job at the library down there around the college and have been performing puppet shows for the kids," Jimmy says, his smile wider than before.

"That sounds like fun."

"Sure is," Jimmy's phone buzzed in his pocket. Taking it out, Ren could see Jimmy's eyes widen. "Oh shoot, I forgot I had somewhere to be. It was nice talking with you again. If you ever want to talk you know where to find me." 

"Sure do, hope whatever you have going on goes well man."

"I'll make sure it does," Jimmy said, waving goodbye. Ren waved back, still on the bench. 

—

Ren didn't know how he felt after the visit. Sure it had been nice seeing Jimmy after so long but it also brought back memories he didn't want to remember at the moment (or ever really). 

He was heading back home, walking down the sidewalk and sun setting on the city around him. It was nice, until it wasn't. Someone yanked him into an alley by his shoulder and began holding a knife to his throat. The person, who so rudley pulled him back, was wearing a black hoodie and mask to cover his face.

To close buddy, back up please, Ren thought, starting to freak out at how close the mugger was. He absolutely hated being grabbed by people he didn't know, more than the average person would, so being grabbed without warning was doing him wonders.

"Scared you're gonna die, huh. Well that won't have to happen if you give me everything you have that's worth something," the mugger said, Ren could hear the smirk they had on through their voice.

"Look, dude, I have nothing on me. Not even a wallet. So if you could just let me go I'll be on my-" Ren's head was suddenly bashed against the wall as the mugger gripped onto Ren's hair. What could he say, shoulder length hair suited him.

"No excuses mutt, now hand over your goods!" The mugger shouted. They were lucky there was no one around to hear them, Ren on the other hand wasn't. 

His mind immediately went to a different place as he was pinned against the wall, eyes already starting to water.

"Hurry up!" The mugger pressed the knife a bit harder on his throat, almost to the point of cutting it.

'Alright, this is getting out of hand. I'm taking control now.'

Ren's body changed to gray-scale, the only color coming from the clothes he wore, as he gripped the mugger's arm that held the knife. 

"What the hell?" They said, looking down at the hand that grabbed them.

"Leave now and I might show you mercy."

"And why would I do that? You're the one at my mercy. I'll cut that throat of yours then take all you have without a care in the world."

"Oh really now." Ren immediately moves the mugger's arm away from his throat, hitting the other arm in such a way that they let go of his hair, and kicks them into the opposite wall, knocking the breath out of them. This wasn't Ren anymore, this was Grimm Dog.

"You son of a bitch," the mugger said angrily, standing back up.

Grimm Dog just laughed at that. 

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, it's just your name calling skills. They're shit," Grimm Dog answered with a smirk.

"Why you little-" before the mugger could fully charge at Grimm Dog, an explosion-filled punch hit their face and they fell to the ground. Doc stood above the mugger, now on the ground holding their face as they cower in fear. An audible hiss could be heard from Doc as he scowled at the mugger, his disguise down to show his true looks. Grimm Dog just continued smirking at them.

"W-what are you?" They asked. To any normal person they would have thought that question was for Doc, heck Doc thought it was for him, but no. It was for the wolf hybrid standing behind him, eyes hidden behind sunglasses and a growing smile on his face as he watched Doc beat the shit out of some random mugger.

Ren would eventually come back to his senses, his body regaining the color it lost, with no real memory of what happened in between him getting pinned and having to pull Doc away from the now left for dead mugger. Maybe Grimm Dog took over for him before he could fully freak out. 

He'll just have to ask once he's asleep. 

Chapter Text

Everything was dark, it almost always was. He got used to it a few years ago, gave up trying to have a half decent dream when he started getting monthly doses of the same nightmare. Though he had an objective this time, he needed to talk and talk he was going to do.

"Heard you needed me," someone said from behind him, making him jump.

"Jeez man, no need to give me a heart attack in my sleep. Might wake up sooner rather than later," he said, trying to calm himself. 

"Sorry not sorry. Now you need to ask me something?"

"Yes I did, what happened after you took over?"

"Oh that, the dum dum decided to continue to give pointless threats and come up with what you may call unoriginal names. Also Doc ran into us and started to beat the shit out of them."

"Did he figure out or notice anything off?"

"Nope, it was a dark alley. He was also so full of rage at that moment that even if he saw my beautiful gray-scale he wouldn't have noticed."

He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "Thank goodness. I don't feel like trying to explain why I was gray."

"That would be fun to watch."

"For you."

"Of course for me. Can we go on patrol soon?"

"Next time we're able to, sure."

"Good, now have a good day. Call me if you need me." 

—

Ren woke up. Rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes he gets up and gets ready for the day, putting his hair up in a low ponytail with a few strands hanging out in front of his face. The smell of eggs and bacon drifted into his room from the kitchen, it smelt wonderful. If there was one thing Ren could complement his roommate for was his cooking.

On the topic of his roommate, Ren had yet to talk about the events of yesterday with Doc. Was he thankful that Doc took care of the mugger for him? Of course, but the execution of it could've probably been better. When Ren regained full control again over his body Doc was still beating them up, even though they were already unconscious. It took Ren having to touch the area where his robotics should be to get any sort of recognition from him, only after Ren tried to scream into his ear.

So to say Doc was blinded by rage was a bit of an understatement. 

He didn't know what he was blinded by, but it was definitely more than just rage. Grimm Dog probably knew, but knowing him he wouldn't say what. Saving the knowledge for a time when it would most benefit him and his weird definition of fun.

Maybe Ren should just eat breakfast and just not bring it up, that would be the easiest thing to do. And it's not like he didn't know the reason behind why Doc did what he did, he just didn't know the full version of it or how far Doc would go. He was Doc's friend, and Doc was his, so if Doc somehow got into a situation like that Ren would also beat the crap out of said person. 

So yeah, he wasn't going to bring it up. He was going to enjoy breakfast with his roommate and enjoy life.

He walks into the kitchen, grabs a mug, and starts to make his coffee. Doc was finishing up breakfast, starting to plate up the scrambled eggs and bacon he made for the both of them. There was something off though, not with the food but with Doc. 

The man would usually say good morning to Ren as soon as he came in. Instead Doc was silent as he gave Ren his plate, starting to take his food and a carafe full of coffee with him out the kitchen, somehow with one arm. 

"Where you going, dude?" Ren asked, concerned. 

"My room, have some projects I need to look over," Doc answered. 

"Okay, what's wrong?" Ren asked, sitting his own plate on the table.

"What do you mean?" Doc asked back, having yet to make eye contact with Ren. 

"One, you take advantage of being a multi-tasker and look over projects while cooking. I've seen you do it multiple times. Two, you never bring food to your room. Not liking the idea of accidentally getting food in your contraptions. So set your breakfast down on the table and ask you again, what's wrong?"

Doc sighed. Knowing he couldn't get out of it he listened and sat down at the table, Ren sitting right across from him. It was silent for a moment, Ren taking a bite of his eggs as he waited for Doc to explain. They were some good eggs.

"It's about what happened yesterday," Doc answered. Ren paused, fork in his mouth as he processed what he said.

"Really?" Ren asked, genuinely confused. Why would Doc be worried about what happened? If anything Ren should be concerned over Doc almost killing someone.

"What do you mean 'really?' I almost killed a person in front of you and you aren't concerned about that?" Doc looked flabbergasted. He had the right to be, any normal citizen would have probably screamed and run or passed out at the fact that Doctor Goat was single handedly (pun intended) beating the crap out of a random mugger. 

"At the time I was kinda in my own headspace and wasn't really paying attention to what was happening around me. I only just got my bearings towards the end of it," Ren answered, surprisingly calm. Everything he said was the truth, only some parts were omitted for obvious reasons. "Only real thing I have to say is to go easier on them next time. Regular muggers aren't as strong as the people you normally go against so just knock them out with a good punch."

"That's the only thing you got to say?"

"Yep. Wasn't even planning on talking about it. Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold, you did a good job on it," Ren replied, too casually for the average person. 

Doc just stared at him for a while before starting to eat. At this moment Doc finally realized that Ren might not be as normal as he thought.

Chapter Text

The half moon shown high above the city as Grimm Dog jumped from roof to roof. If Ren was in control he would've definitely preferred alley travel, but since he wasn't Grimm Dog was free to do what he pleased. Sure he could take the easier way of going through shadows but that wasn't as fun.

He heard a scuffle going on in the alley below him and stopped to look. There was a person in a weird costume, consisting of black pants, shoes, and fingerless gloves; a dark green tunic; a bright green hooded cloak with a darker green accent, hood up; and a black mask with a weird, swirly flame like, green symbol in the middle that covered his enter face, a piece of fabric attached, went behind their large elf like ears, and tied behind their head. All in all an ineffective costume for stealth but a good costume in the looks department. The person was pinning someone against a wall.

Said someone was a tall blonde man that Grimm Dog vaguely recognized as Jimmy, one of Ren's old friends.

Wait…SHIT IT WAS JIMMY!

Grimm Dog didn't know Jimmy personally, but if something were to happen to him he knew Ren would blame himself and try to save him. He couldn't let Ren do that to himself again, even if he wasn't around for the first time.

So with that in mind Grimm Dog puts on his usual bravado and melts into the shadows.

Jimmy's back was to the person as he was being pushed into the wall, hands bound and a dagger to his neck. "L-let me go," he said as he tried to struggle against the person's grip. He ultimately failed. 

"Can't," the person said, voice obviously modified with a voice changer to sound deep and gravely. 

"And why not?" Grimm Dog asked, his silhouette on the wall behind them with a cheshire grin on his face. 

The person throws a dagger at his silhouette, getting stuck in the bricks of the building where his face would be if he was solid. They still had Jimmy at dagger point and hadn't even looked Grimm Dog's way.

"Now what was that for? I only asked a simple question," he said in mock annoyance, the grin still on his face.

"If you know what's best for you, you'll leave and mind your own business."

"Please don't," Jimmy whispered, looking terrified at the thought. He was immediately pushed closer to the wall, shutting him up.

"Hmm," he said with an over exaggerated thinking face. "I could do that."

Jimmy's eyes widened in terror, tears starting to form as his only possible escape was fading away, literally. Grimm Dog's silhouette faded away and all that was left was a regular wall.

"Now back to busine-"

The person was knocked out into the street by the flat of Grimm Dog's scythe, like a golf ball being hit with a club. Jimmy was now free from being pinned, his hands were still bound, he might have a headache in the morning, and there was a slight nick on his neck from where the dagger was but all in all Jimmy was fine. So with care, Grimm Dog cuts the binds with his scythe, freeing Jimmy's hands. Jimmy just looked stunned.

"What thought I was just going to leave you there?" Grimm Dog asked with a smirk.

"I thought you vanished!"

"That was the point, now I would suggest you start running. Dude'll get up in about twenty seconds."

"How do you-"

"Just run," Grimm Dog said before pushing Jimmy in the opposite direction of where he hit the mystery person and soon enough Jimmy was out of sight. Just in time too as the person got up at the exact twenty second mark rubbing a hand on their head.

"I thought you decided to leave," they said, clearly annoyed.

"I said I could leave, not that I would."

They brought out another dagger, now dual wielding and in a battle stance. Seriously, how many daggers did this person have?

"You wanna fight now? We could just make it easier on the both of us and have you give up and turned into the authorities you know?"

"I won't back down. Especially after what you just did," they said, bringing their daggers up more.

"Fine, have it your way then. Just know your head might end up on the opposite side of my scythe and it won't look pretty," Grimm Dog taunted, bringing his scythe to his side and waiting for his opponent to move.

Once the person starts to charge at him does he realize that they're fast, almost as fast as himself. It makes hitting them a bit more difficult, not only that but Grimm Dog can't sense a pattern in his opponents attacks, making it harder to dodge and time his phasing. Worst part was that his opponent was silent throughout all of this, there was no banter. This was not at all fun or entertaining in the slightest. He felt like he was trying to get used to controlling Ren's body again with his power, his body not used to Grimm Dog's power at the time making it hard to use. But instead of him having trouble using his powers the person was just too quick and unpredictable for him to counter. 

Not to say he didn't get a good few hits in, he did manage to crack a few ribs, and maybe a bloody nose if the blood dripping down the person's chin under their mask was anything to go by. 

They continued fighting in the open street, each punch or kick being met with another, weapons clashing and nicking their opponent. Until there Grimm Dog felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. 

Somehow, someway, the person managed to stab Grimm Dog with his dagger. He didn't have time to dodge or phase through it, they were just too unpredictable for him to try and do anything. The person quickly pulls out the dagger, his crimson blood covering the blade. Why did he have to wear a white shirt under his shadow cloak this time? Now it was going to be stained with blood. His…blood. 

He touches the wound and brings his hand back, the same crimson from the knife was painted on his pale white skin. Huh…that was a pretty color wasn't it.

His scythe disappeared and he knelt down, the pain shooting throughout his body. Before he could pass out though the person stops to look down at him.

"This is what happens when you get in the Listener's way," they say before leaving Grimm Dog to just die on the street.

Before he could fully pass out though he saw a tall silhouette in the distance, goat horns on their head and green skin. He knew them.

"Hey Doctor, long time no see. How ya doin'," Grimm Dog said before promptly passing out. 

Chapter Text

"Hey Doctor, long time no see. How ya doin'," Grimm Dog said before passing out, body now lying on the street bloodied and bruised. 

Doc just stood there, contemplating on what to do. He could just leave him here to die on the street, getting rid of the annoyance that was Grimm Dog, or take him back to his workshop and get the vigilante some treatment. Why he would give treatment, he didn't know, all the man has been a nuisance ever since the day he debuted. Though he could show mercy this once.

Doc was just heading home from Etho's place before he ran into the vigilante and just got a new arm so it was much easier to pick him up than it would have been if he didn't. He carried Grimm Dog over his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes, and headed towards his workshop. Home was closer but he be damned if he was going to freely give away where he lived to someone like Grimm Dog, he might take advantage of it and annoy Doc even more. The worst thing Grimm Dog could do at his workshop was wait outside for him.

—

His workshop was hidden in plain sight, in an abandoned building. Doc made a secret entrance to it through an old elevator in the building, making the button into a finger scanner. He pressed the button and the elevator door opened, the inside just as old looking as the outside. Couldn't be too careful. Once inside Doc pressed another finger scan button and the elevator started to go down. 

The elevator opened up to reveal a large room filled with different tools and weapons in varying sizes. Screens were placed in various places and paper was strewn about the place on tables and the floor. With all this stuff there was only a singular office chair in the room. Doc walked past all of it to get to one of the different rooms, the plaque on the door saying 'Medical'. 

Doc opened the door and placed Grimm Dog on one of the two beds in the room. This room wasn't as big as the previous one as it only had some Medical equipment like a heart monitor and IVs. It also had all of Doc's supplies for healing himself and, maybe allies, like health potions and bandages. 

Thinking back, why did he even bother to bring Grimm Dog here. He could figure out later, but at the moment he started to gather his suture kit from the cabinet and turns around, only to find Grimm Dog sitting up with a hand on the wound.

"How the fuck…you know what I'm not even going to ask," Doc said to himself as he headed back to the bed. 

"So you're finally goin' to be living up to your name Doctor?" Grimm Dog asked, jokingly.

"Yes, now work with me and you might not die from blood loss."

"Alrighty, Imma get rid of the robe," Grimm Dog said before Doc could interject and say that he shouldn't move. Though Instead of moving to remove the robe it just melted away, the remains joined the shadows, and revealed a plain blood-stained white t-shirt, a pair of jeans, black army boots, and his ears and tail. The only thing left covered in shadow was his face as it stayed covered up from the bridge of his nose up, only the gray of his eyes visible. 

"Is this what you always wear under your robe when on patrol?" Doc asked, dumbfounded that this man didn't have a bit of protection on.

"Yes. Please hurry up now, this shit hurts," Grimm Dog said, sounding serious. That was a first.

With that Doc offers Grimm Dog a potion to numb the pain, he refuses it.

"Alright, but I'll warn you, this might hurt."

Doc starts the procedure of stitching up the wound, which was surprisingly easy as Grimm Dog stayed scarily still and not making a noise as Doc did his work. He ended up finishing quicker than he thought he would and started bandaging the wound. After the major wound was finished he noticed the smaller ones, bruises forming almost on every surface of his pale skin with a few cuts here and there.

"What the hell happened to cause all this," Doc said, gesturing towards all the injuries scattered over Grimm Dog's body.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Wanna get revenge for your nemesis don't you," he teased, still in pain but hardly showing it.

"No, I just want to know how they managed to take down the city's annoyance and had the gall to just leave him there to die instead of making sure they finished the job," Doc replied, crossing his arms.

"Then why did you save me?"

"Couldn't let some nobody I don't know take down the one person I can test my weapons on without dying immediately," Doc answered. Was it the truth, maybe. He didn't know. 

"Aww do you have a soft spot for me," Grimm Dog cooed.

"No, I do not now go to sleep, I'll be in my office if you need me."

"Fiiine. Night," Grimm Dog said before getting comfortable under the covers. Doc leaves without another word, turns out the light, and heads towards his office. 

Just like the Medical Room, the door has a plaque on it that says 'Office'. Inside was a desk with a simple computer, multiple bookshelves filled with various different items, and a couch with a pillow and blanket on it. Doc decided that he would sleep there tonight as he was tired and he didn't want Grimm Dog to go through his stuff while he wasn't there. Before heading to bed though Doc sent Ren a text message, making sure it went through before heading to the couch and falling asleep.

Ren

Doc: Hey Ren, I won't be coming home tonight. Accidentally stayed at my workshop too long and am about to fall asleep. See you soon.

Delivered 

Chapter Text

"No nononononono! How are we supposed to get out of this without getting caught?"

"Calm down Ren, we'll be fine. I'm sure I can get us out of here."

"But what if he finds out, what would he think?"

"I don't know what he would think but maybe he wouldn't care."

"He hates your guts."

"Valid point."

"I just don't want to lose him."

"You won't."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Now let's wake up."

—

Grimm Dog woke up hurting. He told Ren he could get them out of this, he just had to figure out how without opening the stitches. He could go into the shadows to go under the door, but other than that he's kind of stuck here. No matter how much he wanted to just phase through things or teleport he could only go into shadows and move through them.

Maybe he could just ask Doctor Goat to let him go home, they could schedule appointments from there.

So with that plan in mind Grimm Dog gets up, wincing a bit at the pain (he's had worse though before so it's fine), and exits through the door like a normal person. Looking around he could see all the clutter littering the place, with different tools and inventions scattered around. But he didn't have time to look around at the moment, he had places to be.

Grimm Dog walked over to the door labeled 'Office' and knocked. He could hear a thump behind the door before hearing footsteps. The door opened to reveal a disheveled Doctor Goat. 

"Mornin' Doctor," Grimm Dog said. He still didn't have on his shadow robe, not bothering to waste any energy on keeping it up, so he only had a shadow covering his face. Luckily for him, whenever he was in control Ren's body gray-scaled in color so people thought he was a pale, black haired, wolf-hybrid. 

"What are you doing up so early?" Doctor Goat asked, tiredly. 

"What time is it?"

"Three in the morning."

"That's a pretty good time to wake up."

"No, it's not now go back to bed." Doctor Goat starts to close the door.

"Wait!" Grimm Dog exclaimed, stopping Doctor Goat from closing the door. 

"What now?"

"Can I leave?" Grimm Dog asked, finally able to get to the point.

"You want to leave?" Doctor Goat asked, confused.

"Yes."

"You're not deciding to take advantage of being here to annoy me like you usually do?"

"Yep, trying not to make people think I got kidnapped," Grimm Dog answered, truthfully. Ren had work tomorrow and if he wasn't at the apartment before Doctor Goat then he might think Ren went missing. 

"Fine. Don't let this happen again though, I might not help you the next time."

"That's fair. Now how do I leave?"

"You really think I'm going to let you leave right now, we haven't even discussed payment."

"Already have that covered. A favor, under the guidelines that it won't kill me or include causing fatal damage to someone or something like a building. How's that?"

"And why would I accept that?" Doctor Goat asked, sounding skeptical. 

"Free willing test subject, info, needing out of a sticky situation, that's a few things I can think of off the top of my head," Grimm Dog listed off.

Doctor Goat takes a moment to think then holds his metal hand out for Grimm Dog to shake. "It's a deal."

"Great," Grimm Dog says, before taking Doctor Goat's hand and giving a firm shake.

"Now before I let you go you have to promise not to tell anyone where my base is, or else," Doctor Goat threatened, squeezing Grimm Dog's hand a bit harder.

"Gotcha, now let's go," Grimm Dog said, letting go of Doctor Goat's hand and letting Doctor Goat through.

Doctor Goat leads him to an elevator door and presses the button, the door automatically opening. 

"Come back in about two weeks from now to get the stitches removed, and don't do any dumb shit. I would also recommend that you don't go patrolling for a while until the stitching is removed. Can you do that?"

"I can certainly try," Grimm Dog said with a smile towards Doctor Goat. 

"Good now safe travels."

"Thanks, and sorry for waking you up. See you soon."

Grimm Dog enters the elevator had heads up and out of the abandoned building. He was truly impressed by how well it was hidden. No one would think to come searching for a high tech user in a run down office building. 

"How did you get away with that," Grimm Dog heard Ren say in his head.

"I don't know but I did it, just as I said I would."

He goes into a nearby alley and melts into the shadows, it was time to go back home.

Chapter Text

Ren woke up back in his apartment, feeling like crap. He knew about what happened, he saw it all himself. It was weird seeing Grimm Dog do his thing, as it was his body that he was controlling, but it was always good to know what was going on. The only time he really dipped from watching was when Grimm Dog was jumping from roof to roof, he hates the feeling of having no feet on the ground and falling. 

Back on topic, Ren felt like crap due to the injuries Grimm Dog got while fighting that Listener guy. Especially in the stomach region where there was now a bandaged stab wound. He still had to get up though, he had work later today and he already had enough days off. He wasn't going to call off for more days due to a few minor scratches.

He picks up his phone off his bedside table to check the time, it was nine ten, and sees a text from Doc.

~

Doc

Doc: Hey Ren, I won't be coming home tonight. Accidentally stayed at my workshop too long and am about to fall asleep. See you soon.

~

The time on the message said it was sent yesterday. He didn't have his phone then, he was stuck in Doc's workshop. So he decided to reply back. 

~

Doc

Ren: hey doc just saw your message hope you rested well and to see you soon 

~

He sent the message and started to get out of his now ruined clothes. Luckily they weren't his favorite, but it still sucked nonetheless. Now dressed in a hoodie and jeans, with his hair tied back in a low ponytail, he heads to the kitchen to find himself some breakfast. This was definitely going to be a long day.

—

"Ren, your back!" Scar exclaimed as Ren came in, wheeling out from behind the counter. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than ever, dude," a lie, "how have you and everyone else been holding up without me?"

"It felt weird not having you, that's for sure. Also, Grian wanted you to try something for him. He says you have better taste buds than anyone else here." Scar explained, gesturing wildly with his hands. Ren missed this.

"Well guess I should go say hi to Grian then."

"You should, he's very excited about his new creation."

"This should be fun then."

Both Grian and Scar liked to experiment with different ingredients, whether it be with bread or coffee they always seem to make something unique or with a creative twist. He wondered what concoction Grian made this time. 

"Oh Grian! Ren's here," Scar announced as Ren clocked in and put on his apron. 

"Ah, my favorite taste tester. Try this for me," Grian said, popping up from out of nowhere, and holding up a slice of bread. 

Ren took it and looked at it for a second. It was a golden color with a brown swirl on the inside, the top of it covered in nuts and some green colored syrup and chocolate chips. He took a bite of it and could immediately tell what it was, banana nut bread with cinnamon and chocolate syrup added to it. It was delicious, his tail wagging as he enjoyed the taste.

"Yes!" Grian exclaimed, punching the air. 

"Aww he looks like a happy puppy," Scar cooed as he watched Ren enjoy his bread.

"If being a puppy means I get more good stuff, gimme," Ren jokes, finishing off his bread slice.

Grian just stopped and looked at Ren. "Ren no."

"Aw come on, I'm adorable," Ren continued to joke, putting on his best puppy eyes, making everyone laugh. It hurt a bit but he ignored it.

"Get to work, I need to make more 'Bad Boy's Bread'."

"That's the name of it?"

"Yep. Isn't it rad, boy." It was Grian's turn to make everyone laugh. Again laughing hurt but he could ignore it. 

"I better start workin' before I get caught up in more jokes," Ren said before heading to take someone's order. Maybe today wouldn't be such a bad day after all. 

—

Towards the end of Ren's shift he got a text from Doc and decided to reply.

~

Doc

Doc: I rested as well as I could on a couch. I'm done with what I was doing. Want me to come to your workplace and walk home together?

Ren: sure dude. you can even try this new bread grian made for the menu

Doc: Alright be there in a bit.

Ren: see you soon

~

To say he was a bit nervous to meet Doc after last night would be a lie. It had nothing to do with Doc, it had something to do with him. He was still injured and Doc was the one to patch him up. If something were to happen to cause the stitches to break he could be in a bit of trouble, not to mention all the cuts and bruises under his hoodie.

But besides that he was excited to truly see Doc again, not just Doctor Goat interacting with Grimm Dog. 

The bell above the door ding as the door opened, Doc in his civilian disguise walking through the door. Ren immediately noticed that Doc had a second arm again, the man did say he was going to pick that up before he left.

"Hey, I've missed you all mornin' dude," Ren said as he waved, arm outstretched. 

"I missed you, too. Now, you said there was some bread you wanted me to try?" Doc asked, looking at Ren with a warm smile.

"Ah yes, I did." Ren grabbed a slice, put it in a bag, and handed it to Doc. "Since we just put it on the menu everyone can get one free per day until it's been out for a week."

"Who had that idea?" Doc asked, confused at the thought of giving something for free for seven days. Even if it was just one.

"Scar did. He does it with every new item that comes out. He says it promotes the item and makes people want to buy it even if they already had their free slice or after the seven days have passed. It surprisingly works as well," Ren explained as he watched Doc take out the slice of bread from the bag and take a bite.

"Mhmm, this is good. What's it called?"

"Bad Boy's Bread."

"Are you joking?" Doc asked, seriously. 

"Nope, not joking. It's catchy ain't it."

"I'm not going to comment on it. It is good bread though."

"It is." Just the thought of it made Ren's tail wagging a bit.

Doc laughs at that. "Are you sure you aren't a dog hybrid, Ren? Your tails wagging quite a bit there."

Ren gasped in mock offense. "I'm a full blooded wolf hybrid thank you very much!" Ren exclaimed. Luckily there weren't really any people there, and the ones that were there were minding their own business or didn't know what was going on thanks to wearing headphones. They both laugh with each other.

"I better go to the back and clock out, I'll be back in a bit, dude."

"Alright, man. I'll be waiting."

Ren went to the back and clocked out, hanging up his apron, and headed out the café with Doc.

Chapter Text

The way home from the café wasn't very eventful, Ren was talking about what happened during the day and Doc would laugh at the funny parts. 

That was until Ren heard something flying through the air, putting an arm out in front of Doc to stop him. He was confused until a dagger went right past his head and lodged itself into the bricks of the building they were near. 

"What the fuck," Doc whispered, staring at the dagger in disbelief. Ren immediately recognized that dagger. It had the same design as the one that he got rudley stabbed with.

'Why!?' 

"We need to go," Ren said, grabbing Doc's hand and pulling him away from the dagger. He kept his ears perked up as he listened for anything suspicious. 

"Do you happen to know what's going on?" Doc asked, concerned. 

"Not really," that wasn't a lie. Why would Listener be trying to kill him, there wasn't even a chance for them to know his civilian self. Unless he was trying to get Doc, which was a whole nother can of worms to open.

He could hear something else fly through the air. This time he pulled Doc down with him, ducking under the dagger as it whizzed past his head. This was definitely going to pull on his stitching, it was already hurting from the strain. He winced a bit but he wasn't going to die, he wasn't going to let Doc die either.

They both get back up and Ren takes them into an alley, and hides them both behind a dumpster.

"Ren what are you doing, we have someone trying to murderer us with knives, why are we hiding behind a dumpster?" Doc asked, trying to comprehend the situation. 

"Shush, I need to concentrate," Ren said, bringing up a finger to silence Doc before closing his eyes and trying to summon his weapon. 

Feet landed in the distance and footsteps started getting closer, Doc was about to go out before Ren put a hand on his knee, eyes still closed. There was a dim glow before there on the ground in front of Ren there was a blade. Not just any blade either. It had the hilt of a sword. The blade however started sword-like up until the blade diverged into more of a double sided ax. It was a mix of both sword and ax and was easily above half his size if it were to stand straight up.

Ren let out a breath and picked it up by the hilt easily and stood up from his hiding spot before Doc could object. Just like he thought Listener was at the entrance of the alley daggers in hand. Ren took a stance, feet spread out and axeblade in hand.

"That's some weapon you got there. Where'd you get it?" Listener asked, face hidden behind their mask.

"None of your business, now why are you following me?" Ren asked, holding his stance.

"Just here to follow orders, if you put the weapon down and come with me peacefully then everything will work out just fine." Listener held their hand out for him to take.

"And if I say no?"

"Then your friend over there will die," they said, simply.

Ren tensed up a bit, but kept his stance steady. "You can threaten me all you want but you are not bringing him into this."

"Why shouldn't I, Ren?"

"How do you know my name?" Ren asked, now freaked out a bit.

"You're on the list," Listener answered.

"List or not I'm not going with you, nor are you going to hurt my friend so I'd advise you just leave."

"No," Listener said before lunging at Ren with his daggers.

Ren blocks his attack with his axeblade, pushed back a bit by the force. 'How strong is he!?' He was struggling against Listener's two daggers, and the size of the blade was too big for it to properly use. He was also in pain. So all in all he was at a huge disadvantage. Why was this the weapon he was destined to have?

Doc decided then would be the time to announce his presence and punched Listener square in the stomach with his metal right arm, sending them flying out onto the street. Ren could hear a hiss coming from Doc, his face contorted to anger. 

"What are you doing, dude?" Ren asked, panicked.

"Protecting you, that's what. Now let's get out of here," Doc said, grabbing Ren's hand and taking him out of the alley and in a direction away from Listener. 

That was the time his body decided to work against him. Ren's legs gave out from under him, falling to his knees. 

"Ren?" Doc looked down at his friend, trying to find out what was wrong.

"I'm fine, we need to-"

"You think you can get away from me that easily," Listener said from behind, lunging at them again. Listener was too close for Ren to block their attack with his axeblade, so he braced for an attack. It never came.

Ren looked back and saw Doc, arms in a cross as he guarded against Listener's daggers with his metal arm.

"Run, Ren," Doc said, struggling a bit as he push against Listener's blades.

Ren couldn't move as he watched. Doc eventually pushed against Listener's blades enough for them to get pushed back a bit, pocketing the ring letting his disguise fall, and began fighting further away from him.

He had to get out of there, but he was frozen in place and feeling a little light headed. Ren put a hand on where he had been stabbed and brought it back, crimson now coating his hand. Well dang it, his stitches broke.

He looked back at the fight immediately tensed up. Doc was being held up in the air by his neck, grabbing onto the arm holding him up as tight as he could. Listener's head was turned towards Doc's as they seemingly watched him struggle. Ren's blood started to boil at the sight and he fought against his bodies wishes to stand up and take his axeblade. 

"You'll learn the same way that shadow did not to get in my wa-"

Listener was interrupted by Ren body slamming them to the ground, their grip on Doc lost as they got knocked away. Doc unceremoniously fell to the ground, coughing and rubbing his neck.

"Didn't I tell you to run?"

"I couldn't."

"Yet you could ram into a dude trying to kill us," Doc chuckled. 

"Yep," Ren chuckled as well at the thought. Then he looked back towards where Listener was. Ren couldn't see their face, since they were trying to reorient themselves, but he could see their mask on the ground. It must've fallen off.

"Kick him in the face for me would ya," Grimm Dog said in Ren's head, he couldn't agree more.

He walked up to Listener, who was still hunched over on the ground, with his axeblade in hand and was about to kick him as well. Until Listener looked up at him and he saw their face.

Ren was now on the verge of tears, his ears down. This couldn't be him, he was dead. He had seen him die. He took a few steps away from the man as he continued to look at his face.

"Martyn?"

Chapter Text

"Martyn?"

Ren couldn't believe his eyes. Sure there were a few differences like his pointed elf-like ears and purple eyes, but it was him. It was Martyn. How was he here?

"I…I thought you were dead. How are you…what are you even doing?" Ren asked, tears starting to fall down his face. He saw him die.

"My name's not Martyn," Listener…or well, Martyn…said.

"What are you talking about, me and you used to be best friends before everything happened. Me and you, a king and his hand. Don't you remembe-"

Before Ren could finish, he felt something sharp go into his right shoulder. He looked down at the dagger in disbelief. 

"My name is not Martyn, My name is Listener. I am not your hand, and I never will be. Remember that," Listener said before picking up his mask and walking away, disappearing in an alley.

Ren fell to the ground in tears as he watched him walk away. He was in pain, from being stabbed, opening up a previous wound, and watching someone he thought was dead come back only to turn out he was the cause of the first two problems. He felt dizzy, most likely from all the blood loss. 

"Ren!? Please stay awake for me. We're going to head home and everything is going to be alright, ok, just please stay with me," someone said above him, they sounded like they were trying to reassure themselves, as well as Ren, while starting to cry.

"Doc?" Ren asked, voice a bit shaky and tears still falling down his face, albeit slower than before. 

"Yes it's me, Doc. Now stay awake for me while I take us home. You'll be better once we get there," Doc said, picking him up. Ren cuddled up closer to the man and clung onto his shirt, shaking as he started to sob.

"I'm sorry, please don't leave," Ren said through the tears and sniffles. 

"I'm not going to leave you," Doc said, lifting Ren up carefully in a bridal style. Ren didn't hear it as his eyelids began to feel heavy and started to close. 

"I'm sorry," Ren said, before thoroughly passing out in Doc's arms.

—

"Hey, no falling asleep. You need to wake up please," Doc said through his own tears as he tried to wake up Ren. He needed help. So he pulled out his phone, immediately went to contacts, and quickly dialed Etho.

One ring…

Two rings…

Three rings… 

"Hello?" Etho answered.

"Etho I need help," Doc said, urgently, through his now uncontrolled tears.

"Why what's the problem?"

"I can't help him, he's passed out and I can't do anything," Doc answered. 

"Doc, you need to calm down for me bud. Where are you right now?"

Doc looked around trying to find anything to give his location, he found a street sign. "In Maplewood Street, next to where it intersects with Cherry Road."

"Good, I'll be there in a bit with my car and I can get you and your friend back to my place in a few minutes."

"Ok, but please hurry."

"I will see you soon." With that Etho hung up.

Doc didn't know why he was freaking out this much. He's seen much worse happen to people, most of it by his own hands, but seeing Ren like this. It was something he wished not to have seen. He moved off the street with Ren in his arms and onto the sidewalk. 

Why didn't he prevent it, he was right there for goodness sake. He should've been able to do something. Instead right as he was finally getting his bearings that Listener guy had already thrown the dagger and left. 

He could still feel the man's hand on his throat. Nobody had ever gotten that close to killing him like that. What was he doing, he was supposed to be worried about Ren but instead was worrying about himself.

Etho eventually came with his car and quickly got out to help let Doc in and got a quick glance at Ren, suddenly looking more worried than he had been. The car ride itself was silent as they made it back to Etho's apa. Kctment complex. 

Hurriedly, they get out of the car and run up the stairs. Doc was as careful as he could while holding Ren, and made it to the apartment. Bdubs was holding the door open for them, when he saw Ren though he almost broke. 

"What happened to him?" Bdubs asked, closing the door and running over to the couch that Doc had placed him on.

"He got stabbed, now help him!" Doc snapped. Bdubs flinched but got on the floor next to Ren and started doing his thing, Etho handing him a medical kit and dragging Doc out of the living room and into his room.

Etho led Doc onto his bed and sat him down, as well as sat down next to him.

"Doc, I know this can be scary but I need you to calm down for me," Etho said, placing a hand on Doc's shoulder. 

"How am I supposed to be calm about this? First this random person starts throwing knives at us, then Ren hides us behind a dumpster to summon a weird weapon, after that he ends up fighting the dude and I punch him away. It doesn't end there though because as we run the murder hobo comes back and tries to attack Ren again, I get in between them and fight the dude myself only for him to grab me by the neck and hold me in the air like a bunch of grapes. The only reason I'm not dead is because Ren tackled him and he ended up hurt because I couldn't get up fast enough to help him," Doc said, his cries turned into sobs as he finished. "I couldn't save him and now he could die thanks to me."

"Oh, Doc," Etho pulled him into a comfort hug. Doc wasn't sure why. Etho wasn't a touchy person and Doc by no means deserved it. "You did the best you could, you got him here and we're all grateful for it."

"But…"

"No buts. We all care for Ren and we all will help him. Your job is to make sure he's alright once he wakes up, got it," Etho said, giving Doc a few pats on the back before pulling away from the hug. Doc wiped away the tears on his face and nodded confirmation. "Good, now me and you can wait here until Bdubs gives us the go ahead to let us see him."

Doc nods only to realize something. "How do you and Bdubs know Ren?"

"Oh, me and Bdubs both know Ren from high-school. We were part of the theater club together and Bubs also works with him at the Red Velvet Cat Café," Etho answered.

"You were a theater kid?"

"Yep, but alas I was not the best. That honor belonged to Ren and his right hand man Martyn. They usually played the main antagonists but man did they do it well. One time we were doing a historical fiction themed play and they played the role of the Red King and his Hand and let me tell you, they left me with goosebumps," Etho chuckled at the memory. On the other hand Doc remembered Ren talking with Listener, saying his name was Martyn and how he mentioned something like what Etho was talking about to them.

"Etho, what happened to Martyn?" Doc asked, now serious. Etho sighed and looked towards the floor, arms crossed.

"He died in a villain attack," he answered. 

"Are you sure he died?"

"Of course I am."

"How so?"

"Ren literally watched it happen right in front of him. He wasn't ever the same after it. Last time I checked he was a little better, but it was obvious he needed more time. We haven't really talked since then but Bdubs tells me how he's doing at work so…"

"Etho, I need you to listen to me carefully," Doc started to say, grabbing onto Etho's shoulders. "Martyn isn't dead."

"What are you talking about? Martyn has been dead for a good few years now."

"No no, listen. Martyn isn't dead. He's Listener, the one who hurt Ren."

"That can't be possible, like I said earlier, he died a few years back. How can one magically get revived?"

"Did they ever find a body?"

"What?"

"Did they or did they not find a body?" Doc repeated.

"No they didn't, they said the villain took it. No one knew why though. But there's still Ren's statement after the incident. He saw Martyn collapse to the ground and become a lifeless corpse."

"What if something happened behind the scenes that caused him to come back."

"I don't know what it could've been. The villain in question didn't have any sort of revival ability and Martyn got the short end of the stick in life and was born human with no powers."

"Who says he didn't have powers, there are plenty of people who don't know their true potential, what if something happened that brought him back to life."

"That still doesn't explain the reason why he would attack Ren."

"Mind manipulation," Doc said quickly. "Unless something else dramatic happened that would be the only other explanation."

"Why do you think Martyn's the Listener anyways? You've asked all these questions and I'm just left confused," Etho finally asked.

"I heard Ren say his name during the confrontation. Dude lost his mask, Ren saw his face, and that was the name that came out of Ren's mouth when he saw him without it," Doc answered simply.

"Oh snap. Ren will definitely need someone after that."

"At the moment I'm more worried about if he's going to make it or not," Doc said before both him and Etho hear a synchronized scream coming from the living room. 

Doc runs out of the room first, worry written all over his face, until it was replaced with confusion. Bdubs was on the ground while Ren was perched on top of the couch like a scared cat. He was shirtless, with only the bandages covering up his shoulder wound and his abdomen, and his skin was a pale white. His hair, tail, and ears were black and his blue eyes now gray. He hissed at Bdubs. 

"Why the hell you hissing at me for!?" Bdubs yelled.

"Why the hell were you in my personal space!?" Ren yelled back.

"I was trying to heal you, dumbass!"

"Everybody shut up!" Doc yelled at them both. They both looked at him. Ren gave him a sheepish smile and waved at him.

"Heeey, Doctor…hehe…long time no see huh," Ren, no, Grimm Dog greeted. Doc was dumbfounded.

"What the fuck."

Chapter Text

Doc didn't know what to say other than, "what the fuck," at the sight. A gray-scaled Ren sat perched up on top of Etho and Bdub's couch with a sheepish grin. The worst part about it though was that he recognized this version of Ren. Only one person called him Doctor, and that was Grimm Dog.

"Surprise," Grimm Dog said with jazz hands. He almost fell face first onto the floor before he steaded himself back on the top of it, still perched.

"What's going on in here?" Etho asked, after observing some from the sidelines.

"Shit. How many people are in this one apartment?" Grimm Dog complained to no one in particular. 

"Only me, Bubs, and Doc. Now can anyone tell me what happened to Ren?" Etho asked again. 

"Ren ain't here at the moment please leave a message after the beep, beeep," Grimm Dog answered.

"And who is here?" Bdubs asked.

"Grimm Dog, of course, but I'm sure Doctor over there realized before any of you did," he answered, finally deciding to get out of his perching position and sit on the couch normally. "Not like I had a choice to be out mind you, Ren screwed us both by having me in control." 

Doc was trying to comprehend what was happening in front of him. His best friend was also his biggest annoyance, but also not? He didn't understand. "I'm sorry but I don't understand what's going on completely, could you explain?"

"So many questions. I guess I should answer though for convenience sake," Grimm Dog said, clearing his throat. "Me and Ren are not the same person, first off, we just share a body. Second, he didn't want anyone to know about it and tried to keep it a secret from everyone, especially from Doctor. We all see how well that went," Grimm Dog answered. Doc stayed silent as he took in the information. 

"And where exactly is Ren right now?" Bdubs asked. 

Grimm Dog pointed to his head. "He's in here. He decided he couldn't people at the moment so he forced me out when he felt himself waking up," he answered.

"Can you bring him out please?" Doc asked, wanting to see his friend. Not some vigilante. 

"Nope. Like I said earlier, he forced me to control the body. He's not having the best time at the moment, but as long as he's out before the next full moon I'll be living with it. It has nothing to do with anyone here of course, he's just…remembering some things that aren't pleasant," Grimm Dog answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm a pass out, thanks for the healing." With that, Grimm Dog passes out on the couch. 

Doc didn't know how to feel about this. Should he feel betrayed by Ren for keeping this from him? No, Doc could understand why he did it, and Grimm Dog wasn't technically Ren anyway. So blaming Ren on all the stuff Grimm Dog had done wouldn't make sense either. So what did he feel? He was stuck on that question of his. Emotions sucked sometimes. 

Wait if Grimm Dog and Ren shared a body, that meant that they shared injuries. That also meant that the stab wound Grimm Dog had gotten Ren has to deal with, and he decided to strain himself trying to protect them both. That idiot. His idiot but still. He would definitely talk Ren's ear off about it once he made sure he was ok.

"You doing alright Doc?" Etho asked, looking over at him.

"Oh I'm doing just fine. Ren won't be though when he comes back," Doc answered. 

"And why's that?"

"Idiot decided to fight off against someone and pulled the stitching I did when Grimm Dog was out."

"Oh well that'll have to wait for a while, right?"

"Yes, but it'll still happen."

"Alright then. I can get you some of the extra pillows and blankets and you can stay here in the living room for the night."

"Guess that'll work," Doc agreed, he was definitely tired after the events of the day.

"Well I'm gonna head to bed, it's already past my bed time," Bdubs said, getting up out of the floor and heading to his room. "Good night." Bdubs closed the door behind him.

"Let me get the stuff and you can situate yourself from there," Etho said before going to get blankets and pillows.

—

Ren was stuck in his own head, both figuratively and literally. He didn't feel like coming out though. 

"Ren, you have to come out at some point," Grimm said next to him. "You know what'll happen if you stay like this for the full moon."

"I'll be out soon. I just…can't right now," Ren replied. 

"Everyone is worried about you, especially Doc." Ren stayed silent. "Just remember to come out before the full moon, alright."

"Ok."

It was now silent around him. He didn't want to leave yet though, even if the silence felt like it was killing him.

Chapter Text

Doc woke up the next morning on Etho's couch. How he ended up on the couch he didn't know, the last thing he remembered was making himself a makeshift bed on the floor. Reason being was because Grimm Dog was on the couch. Where was he anyway?

Doc immediately sat up. Where was Grimm Dog? How does one lose an injured person in the middle of the night, in the same room as them no less. Then he saw that the window was open.

'He's trying to get himself killed,' Doc thought, as he got off the couch to look for a way up. This was going to be fun.

—

Doc ended up having to exit the apartment and go around to the alley just to get to the fire escape. If Grimm Dog wasn't on the roof at this point he was going to be mad. 

Luckily for Grimm Dog, he was on the roof. Laying down on his back, arms under his head, he was staring at the moon. It was high up in the sky, most likely because it was the middle of the night. When everyone should be asleep.

"What are you doing up here, Grimm Dog?" Doc asked, once he was up on the roof. 

"Just call me Grimm. Grimm Dog is such a mouth full," Grimm said, not answering Doc's question. 

"Fine then, Grimm. What are you doing up here?" Doc asked again. 

"Couldn't sleep," he answered, still looking up at the moon.

"And you thought it was a good idea to come up here? You could've at least brought a blanket with you, instead of being up here with only a pair of jeans and bandages to cover you," Doc said, gesturing to whatever Grimm had going on.

"I'm used to it, and it's not like I'm not doing something important. I'm trying to figure out some things."

"Like what?" Doc was confused. 

"Lay down here and I'll show you," Grimm said, patting the spot next to him. Doc lays down, arms over his chest. "You see how the moon is now?" 

Doc looked at the moon, he didn't know where Grimm was going with this. "Yes."

"Right now it's in the waxing crescent phase. If my calculations are correct then I'll have around thirteen days until the next full moon," Grimm explained, pointing towards the moon.

"Ren has issues on full moon nights, if I recall correctly," Doc said, mostly to himself. 

"You'll be correct. I don't know how much he told you since I'm not ever in my right mind immediately after one sooo…yeah...sorry for biting your arm and all that."

Doc sat up immediately, and looked over at Grimm. "That was you!?"

"Yep, I can get a little feral on full moon nights. They bring out my worst, you know."

"You call biting and scratching my arm up to the point where I had to get a new one, little?" Doc asked, chuckling to himself. 

"It could've been worse, I could've started out in control that night."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. If Ren wasn't in control, he would've been feeling that same pain alone and in his head. Also he wouldn't be able to come out until the sun showed. When he is in control, he can reel me back into the mind," Grimm explained. 

"Oh."

"Now you understand why I want Ren to come out sooner rather than later."

Doc understood. He already saw how bad it was when Ren was out, he couldn't imagine how it would've been if Ren was in his own mind at the time. "Yes. Yes, I do."

"Good. Now if you could, say some words to Ren. Maybe he'll be able to hear you and come out," Grimm said, sitting up.

"Alright, well…" Doc tried to think of something to say.

"You gonna say something Doctor?" Grimm asked, a smirk on his face.

"Be patient, I have to think," Doc answered, putting a finger up to Grimm's mouth. He removed his finger once he had something. "I miss you, Ren."

"That's basic,"Grimm interrupted.

"Shut up, I had to begin somewhere," Doc complained. "Now as I was saying, I miss you and I want to make sure you're okay. I can't do that with you hiding behind Grimm. Me and you also need to talk about how you decided to fight with stitches. I mean seriously, I patched Grimm up not knowing it was also you but I remember saying to not do anything stupid."

"Are you sure calling him stupid is going to get him to come out?" Grimm interrupted again.

"I didn't call him stupid, I called what he did stupid. There's a difference," Doc refuted.

"Sure there is."

"Just let me finish. Like I said earlier, I miss you and I want to talk. When I say talk I mean to you, not through Grimm, you got that. Hope you did. See you soon," Doc finished. 

"That all?" Grimm asked, finally not interrupting. 

"Yes, now go to bed."

"Fine, only if you sleep on the couch."

"Deal, now bed."

—

Ren didn't know what to do. He had heard Doc's words and he understood what he meant. He just didn't know how to respond. He could deal with it another time. Right now though, he had other stuff on his mind.

Chapter Text

Six days. Ren hasn't come out for six days.

Grimm and Doc had already left Bdubs and Etho's place and were back home. Why hasn't he come out yet? 

"Grimm! Breakfast is ready," Doc said from the kitchen. To Grimm's surprise, Doc was taking this better than either Ren, or himself, thought he would. Sure his initial reaction wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst. Now they are sorta good pals, him and Doc. Doc still held that grudge though and promised he would get back at Grimm when he wasn't expecting it.

Grimm came out of Ren's room, looking like a mess. He still had on pj's and his hair was a rat's nest, sticking up in various places. 

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Doc commented as he looked over at Grimm. Grimm ignored it and sat at the table, banging his head face first on it and letting out a tired groan. "Couldn't get to him, again?"

"No I couldn't," Grimm answered, head still on the table. Doc sighed as he came over to the table with both their plates and sat down, handing Grimm his. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Doc replied. 

"I just don't know what his problem is," Grimm said. "Ren has been unresponsive for almost all the times I've tried to talk to him and the other times he's just saying 'sure' or 'I'll come out soon'. It's been six days Doc and I've tried everything I could think of," he finished, getting his head off the table and taking a bite of his breakfast. It was some sort of potato dish with bacon and other stuff in it.

"Do you know what's keeping him up there?" Doc questioned, as he took a few bites off his own plate.

"It's most likely about this Martyn character. I don't know him since I've never met him, but he definitely meant something to Ren if he's acting like this…wait wasn't he the dude that stabbed us twice?" Grimm interrupted himself, his thoughts now jumbled up. "Why would Ren sulk about someone who wanted us dead?"

"Wouldn't you want to know why your previously dead best friend was back and trying to kill you?" Doc answered with a question of his own, surprisingly calm.

"Yes but I wouldn't be like this," Grimm answered back. "I would've just accepted it as betrayal and moved on, maybe kill ém if I needed to."

"I thought you were more of a person who saved people, not killed them."

"I protect and save so that I can still have some semblance of what I had. Ren wouldn't let me out if I killed people on a daily basis." Grimm replied, rather calmly.

"True. So, what's your kill count?" Doc asked, jokingly. 

"You sure you want to know?"

"If the famed vigilante Grimm Dog has a kill count I definitely want to know how many."

"I'll have you know that ever since I've shared a body with Ren I haven't killed a single person," Grimm said, then started thinking. "No, I take that back. I have killed a single person, but it shouldn't count cause of the moon's interference."

"Sure, but now you've implied that you once had your own body to control. Not only that but you had your own kill count," Doc said with a smirk. "What was it?"

"Fiiine I'll tell you," Grimm said, giving up on trying to hide it. "It's 756."

"What the heck, man. How did you kill that many people, or keep count?" Doc asked, shocked and slightly scared of Grimm's kill count. "Are you joking with me or telling the truth?"

"It's true. Would be surprised how many rich people will pay you for killing someone. Especially the higher ups. A lot of my customers were rulers of kingdoms or aristocrats who wanted their competitors gone," Grimm explained. "I also did bounty hunting."

"What time period are you from, medieval times?"

"Oh Doctor, you know it's rude to ask what time period someone's from," Grimm joked.

"It's not rude when the person inhabiting my friends body is older than he is," Doc retorted. 

"I'll have you know I was around the same age as Ren when that sorcerer put me in their crystal prison."

"Sorcerer?"

"Story for another time."

"Alright then."

With that they finished breakfast and did separate things for the rest of the day. Grimm, reading a book and Doc, working on a new project.

Chapter Text

It was cold.

Maybe Ren was being over dramatic. Sure he just saw a dead man but what was there to worry about. Certainly not the fact that said dead man tried to kill him, nor the fact that they were friends before he died, definitely.

Ren was just being dramatic, he was a theater kid after all. 

'I'll come out eventually,' he would tell himself, he just had to comprehend what happened first.

—

Another day passed and he was still sulking about in his own head. He should've gone back by now. He should've gone back ages ago, but he was still here. Grimm had tried to get him out again but nothing he did convinced Ren, who was still telling himself he would come out soon. 

This day was spent like the rest, thinking about past memories. Life was simpler back then. He and Martyn would spend time at each other's place and practice for their reenactment of 'The Life Games'. Sure they weren't the two main characters, but it was fun to play their enemy. 

The excitement of hearing all the gasps in the audience after watching Martyn 'cut off' his head with an ax was exhilarating. That whole play was one of Ren's happiest memories.

Then he and Martyn went to college, both of them taking coding classes and sharing an apartment. Things were going great, until they had an argument. Ren doesn't remember what it was about, but it was probably something stupid. Whatever it was about, Martyn went up to the roof to blow off some steam.

After a couple minutes Ren had come up, ready to apologize for what happened. He never got the chance. He watched the villain's sword go through his friend. He watched as Martyn's body fell to the ground. He watched, with bloody hands, as his best friend laid dead in his hands. He would hold his best friend's body in a tight hug until the villain in question grabbed him and pulled him away.

Ren wouldn't make it easy on them though as he thrashed and kicked. Tears stung his eyes making him unable to see but he knew he managed to knock the villain's sword away, said sword hitting the sidewalk in front of the apartment complex. 

Heroe, safety personnel, and news reporters would arrive at the scene not too long after, watching as the villain held their victim at the edge by their neck.

"THIS CITY WILL FALL BY MY HAND!" They would shout. Ren would flinch at the noise. "LET THIS BOY BE AN EXAMPLE TO EVERYONE WHO GETS IN MY WAY!"

The rest was a blur as all he could feel was pain and falling.

He would wake up in the hospital a few days later asking for Martyn. The person there would tell them he's gone. They couldn't even find the body to give him a proper funeral. 

Ren ended up isolating himself from other people, only coming out when necessary or when his new body sharing buddy wanted to come out. A few people would come by to check on him, and he would try to act as though he had never been better. They all knew the truth though, they could see through his acting. 

He would graduate college with a coding degree, but would continue in food service. Working at Red Velvet. Rent became too high for just one person working at a café so he went to Craigslist. It wasn't the most trustworthy option but it was what he had.

He searched through the website and found an ad titled 'Looking for a Roommate' from someone named 'Ace Robertson'. That was definitely someone's name but the ad itself was interesting. He took a look at it and decided, why not, and went there. 

The rest was history as he found himself, not only being roommates with an infamous supervillain, but becoming friends with them as well. Maybe even best friends. 

—

It was cold outside on the roof of the apartment. 

Grimm had already gone inside for the night, but Doc lingered staring up at the now waxing gibbous moon. He learned that from Grimm.

Five days left until the full moon.

To say Doc was concerned would be an understatement. He was worried for his friend. He wanted to see and talk to Ren in person, not just sit around and not know or be able to do anything. 

The last words Ren had said to him were 'I'm sorry'. What was he sorry for? Sorry for getting stabbed? That was probably going to happen anyways, heck it already did at the time. Sorry for not being able to stay awake? That was also not going to happen, Doc was really only telling him that because he himself was freaking out and didn't want to watch him die. Was he sorry for something in the past?

Doc didn't know. All this was doing was hurting his head. So he went back to the fire escape and back through the apartment to not wake up Grimm. It was already hard enough to get him to sleep and he didn't want to ruin it.

Chapter Text

He was knelt down and held with force, his hair being pulled as he was forced to look up at the king.

"For attempt assassination of the king and the practice of dark magic I hereby sentence you to death by-"

"Wait!" Someone interrupted, barging into the throne room. They had on a purple hooded cloak, the hood up covering half their face in shadow, a white tunic, brown pants, and black leather boots. 

"Who dares interrupt the king?"

"I do, but this is very important. You see, I think death is too good of a punishment for our friend here. Hand him to me and I'll punish him justly," they say to the king.

"And what makes you think I'll let you do that?"

"I'll pay you one hundred diamonds, not only that but I'll give you a crystal of prosperity. You and your kingdom will be prosperous for as long as you have it."

The king would think before ultimately agreeing to it, handing his prisoner over to the person. They take him deep into the nearby forest, putting him in a ring of assorted flowers and mushrooms. 

"What are you going to do, hand me to the fae?" He would ask. The person would pull down their hood revealing a man with pure white hair, crystal earrings, ice blue eyes, and scars littering their face.

"Oh no no no, you're already in the hands of one," he would say, a wide smile showing sharp teeth would be the last thing we would see before he would be trapped inside of that cursed crystal.

—

Grimm woke up.

'Shit! Ren, take control already!' He yelled in his head. He did not want to be a violent, paranoid, wolf today. He didn't want to be that ever, but it didn't seem like Ren was going to come out anytime soon.

This was going to be a long day. 

—

Doc hadn't seen Grimm all day today. So that either meant Grimm was hiding in Ren's room, he was out and about in town, or Ren was finally out but didn't want to see anyone. Doc didn't know which option he preferred but he had to know what was going on. So he went up to Ren's door and knocked.

A grumble came from inside. It wasn't option two. 

"May I come in?" Doc asked.

He heard more grumbling before an answer came. "Fine, come in," someone said. That someone was Grimm.

Doc came in and saw Grimm huddled in a corner on the bed, with blankets wrapped around him. He looked uncomfortable. 

"What are you doing?" Doc asked when he was inside.

"Waiting," Grimm replied.

"Still waiting for Ren to come out?"

"It's been thirteen days and Ren still hasn't come out nor has he said a single word other than 'I'll come out soon'!" Grimm yelled. He wasn't looking Doc in the eyes, instead looking towards the mattress.

Doc sat on the bed. "And maybe he will."

"You're always saying that! You need to face the fact that he isn't coming and we will suffer because of it."

The room went silent. Uncomfortably silent.

"Doctor?" Grimm now looked Doc in the eyes. "Are you alright?" He asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, I just…I need to go," Doc said as he got out of the bed. "I'll be in my room if you need me." With that Doc left the room, closing the door behind him.

Maybe Doc was stupid for hoping, but that was all he had. Now it was slipping away right in front of him. He wanted to see Ren again. He wanted to hear the wolf-hybrid laugh, wanted to see him smile, wanted to hear him joke. 

But he wasn't here. All that was here was someone who just happened to share his face.

Doc ended up sitting on his bed and crying to himself as he thought to himself that the last memory he had with Ren was when he was almost dead. Maybe he was at this point.

Chapter Text

Okay. Maybe he went too far, but could you blame him?

Grimm was currently in pain, all his nerves were thrown out the window, and he had to worry about the night ahead of him. He needed some fresh air. Grimm found a pencil and paper and wrote that he was going outside before grabbing a hoodie and climbing out the window onto the fire escape. 

—

It felt good to be at the park in this type of weather.

Grimm sat on a bench as he felt the breeze and listened to the birds chirp. It was calming, definitely better than what had been going on the past week and a half. Sure he still felt pain, but it could easily be ignored.

"Grimm."

That though couldn't. 

"Ren?" Grimm questioned aloud. Maybe he was just hearing things and maybe talking to himself made him sound crazy, but he knew what he heard and he already knew that second bit.

"Where's Doc?" Ren asked. 

"Doc's at home worrying about you," Grimm answered. "If you want to take control, do it now, then go home and apologize to him. He's been worried sick about you this whole time. Sure he didn't really express that well, bottling it up and stuff, but he cares," he explained. If someone were to walk past him right now they would call him crazy, but as stated before he already knew that.

"I'm sorry."

"Just take control already."

Grimm retreated back into the mind as Ren took back control over his body, color finally appearing (though he was still a bit pale).

"Now imma stay here until I feel like coming out again," Grimm said before pulling himself away into the dark, empty, space. It felt surprisingly nice to be back.

—

Ren had his hood pulled up the whole trip home. 

He was glad that Grimm hadn't forgotten his phone, he was debating on calling Doc. Key word being 'debating', as his finger hovered over the call button. Maybe calling him wasn't the best option. He did it anyway.

The phone rang once…twice…thrice.

"Grimm? Why are you calling me in the apartment?" Doc asked. Ren could hear the slight sniffle on his end of the phone.

"Hey Doc," Ren said to him instead of answering. 

"Ren?" Doc said, obviously having a hard time believing it. 

Ren laughed a bit. "The one and only." He heard something similar to crying on the other end. "Are you ok, dude?" He asked, more concerned. 

"I'm fine," Doc answered, an obvious lie. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm on my way home from the park. Grimm had needed some fresh air," Ren answered.

"Are you almost back?"

"Yep, can see the apartment from here."

"Good, I'll see you soon."

"Alright, see you soon dude." Ren hung up and continued on his way, he had important things to do.

—

Ren opened the door and was met with Doc pacing around the living room. 

"If you keep this up you'll put a hole in our floor," Ren joked. Doc stopped in his tracks and looked over at him, eyes more watery than usual. Ren just waved. "Hey, dude."

Doc immediately took him in an almost spine crushing hug, making Ren wince a bit. Doc, just as fast, loosened up and held his shoulders looking him dead in the eyes.

"What were you thinking?" He said, looking serious. "You just disappeared for a week and a half after you almost died."

"Yeah, I know. It was stupid."

"Stupid? More like idiotic. I was worried you weren't coming back."

"I know and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you worry, I'm sorry for disappearing, and I'm sorry for not saying anything," Ren blurted out. "I know there were other ways of dealing with it, but at that moment I just couldn't take it and hid away. I'm sorry."

Doc just pulled him back into a hug, not as tight as last time. "I don't know how it must've felt, but I forgive you," Doc said, sounding genuine. "But know that you don't have to hide anything from me, alright. I'll be willing to help you through anything you might need."

That was what broke the dam. Tears began to stream down Ren's face and he pulled himself closer to Doc, wrapping his arms around him and holding onto his coat. Doc began to rub soothing circles onto his back.

"Let's get you to your room. You still have a long night ahead of you," Doc said, closing the front door with his foot. He led Ren to his room with an arm still around him. 

"Thank you," Ren said, wiping away the stray tears.

"Not a problem, man," Doc replied, a small smile on his face.

That night was going to suck, but at least he wouldn't have to go through it alone anymore. 

Chapter Text

That night went just as expected. 

Ren had Doc pinned to his bedroom floor. Luckily for Doc, he prepared for something like this and had a pillow shield in hand. Said pillow shield was being used to protect himself from Ren's bite. Good thing this particular pillow wasn't his favorite, it'll definitely be ruined by night's end.

Ren would eventually come back to his senses, getting off of Doc and spitting out pillow stuffing. 

"You feeling better?" Doc asked, lowering the ruined pillow.

"Still feel like crap. Pillows don't taste good, hope you know that," Ren replied. 

"Wouldn't think so," Doc laughed.

"Don't laugh, you practically shoved that thing into my mouth!"

He laughed harder. "Not my fault I was trying to protect both myself and your mental health."

"It would have done nothing towards my mental health."

"Ren, last time this happened you tore my arm to shreds and fell apart. Don't tell me it wouldn't have done anything," Doc pointed out.

"Fine, it probably would have done something," Ren admitted, crossing his arms.

"Yes, now let's get you back in bed." Doc got up off the floor and held a hand out towards Ren. He took it and Doc pulled him, wincing a bit as his shoulder was still sore. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Ren said, getting into bed. "Night, dude."

"Goodnight."

—

Ren was in the middle of the street, facing towards someone. He could recognize them from a mile away.

"Martyn!" Ren said, overjoyed. "I haven't seen you in forever, dude."

He went in to give him a hug but immediately stumbled when he felt something stab his shoulder. Ren looked down at the dagger in his shoulder then back to the person who put it there, being met with glowing purple eyes. "Martyn? What are you doing?" Ren asked him, confused and concerned. He didn't notice when the streets shifted to a rooftop, full moon above them.

Martyn didn't reply as he picked Ren up by his shirt collar and brought him over the edge. Ren had tried to struggle, but just held on to Martyn's arm when there was nothing below him but the sidewalk on the ground. 

Tears started to roll down Ren's cheeks as he knew what was about to happen. 

"Martyn, please don't do this," he tried to plead, but it did nothing. 

Martyn let go of Ren's shirt and he fell.

—

Doc was in the kitchen making breakfast and drinking coffee when he heard a thump coming from Ren's room. 

Turning off the stove, he headed over to Ren's door and knocked. "Ren? You ok in there, man?" Doc asked.

No one replied, so he opened the door up a bit more to see what happened. Opening the door revealed Ren curled up on the floor, tail wrapped around his leg, white knuckle gripping his hair, trembling, and tears streaming down his terrified face. 

At the sight Doc immediately went over to him and sat on the ground in front of him. "Ren, I need you to take a few deep breaths for me ok," Doc said, as calm as he could. He carefully placed his hand on Ren's head, gently rubbing his thumb up and down and doing deep breaths.

Ren flinched some at the contact, but didn't try to move away. Instead he loosened his hold on his hair a bit and tried to follow along with Doc, taking a few shaky breaths before leveling out. "Good, now can you tell me where we are?" Doc asked him.

"I-in my room," Ren answered, stuttering a bit.

"Correct. Can you tell me something that you can smell?"

"Bacon," Ren answered again, finally letting go of his hair.

"Makes sense. Last thing, something you can feel."

"Your hand."

"Good job. Feeling any better?" Doc asked, still rubbing Ren's head with his thumb.

"A bit," Ren answered, wiping away the stray tears on his face.

"Need a hug?" Doc asked. Immediately getting the breath knocked out of him as Ren wrapped his arms around him. Doc held him close, rubbing circles into his back. "So…mind telling me what happened?"

"Just fell off the bed after a nightmare," Ren answered, trying not to think too much on what happened. "Hey Doc."

"Yes?"

"Can I help you make breakfast?"

"Sure you can," Doc said, a small smile on his face. "We just need to get off the floor first."

"Fine by me."

With that they both get up and head towards the kitchen. Doc resumed making breakfast, with Ren, and they enjoyed a nice meal of bacon and omelets.

Chapter Text

"Doc I'll be fine, don't worry about it."

"Nope, I will be going with you. Have you forgotten that you're on some rando's hitlist?"

Ren sighed. "No, I haven't forgotten." He should just give up trying to stop Doc. Sure, Ren was stubborn sometimes, but Doc out ranked him. If he had something he thought he needed to do it was already set in stone, that didn't mean Ren couldn't try. "Don't you have your own job to go to?" Ren asked. 

"Don't try to pull that on me. I'm a freelancer," Doc refuted.

"Being an 'evil scientist' is considered freelance?"

"Of course it is. How else would I explain not doing work for an undetermined amount of time, I work on my own schedule."

Ren had officially given up on trying to stop him. "Fine, you can come with me to work."

"Great, let me get something real quick and we'll get going," Doc said before going to his room. When he came out he was in his civilian disguise. "You ready?"

"Yes, now let's go before I'm late," Ren answered, a small smile on his face. To say he was disappointed with the fact Doc was coming with him would be a lie. 

—

They talked the whole way there, joking and teasing each other. That was until they entered the café, their conversation coming to an end when someone came stomping over.

"Ren, where have you been?" Grian asked. "We've been worried sick."

Ren should've known this would happen, now he had to come up with an excuse on the spot. "I umm…"

"Doctor told him to stay home until his wound healed," Doc answered. "Ran into a crazy drunk on the way home. Here's the doctor's note." Doc pulled out a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket and handed it to Grian. How Doc had a doctor's note Ren didn't know, but it did save him the trouble of trying to come up with an excuse himself. 

"Yeah, sorry about not saying anything G," Ren said with a nervous chuckle.

Grian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "As long as you're okay, it's fine, just tell someone next time. Better yet…" Grian ran behind the counter and grabbed a notebook and pen and came back, scribbling something down on the paper. "Here you go, Doc. I trust you to tell me what happens to your roommate," he said, handing Doc a piece of paper with his phone number. 

"Thank you," Doc said, taking the paper.

"Why is everyone treating me like a pup today?" Ren asked, rubbing circles on the side of his head.

"This is just the consequence you have to pay for not telling anyone anything," Doc answered, a smug smile on his face. 

"Exactly, Doc gets it. Now get your apron on, we have stuff to get accomplished," Grian said before heading to the back. 

Once Ren was certain Grian was out of earshot, he looked over at Doc and quietly asked, "how the heck did you get a doctor's note?"

"Made it myself. Did you really think it was real?" Doc answered, laughing a bit. "I'm a villain. I know how to make fake documents like the back of my hand, doctor's notes are easy."

"Still, how did you know I would need one?"

"One does not go missing for a week and a half from work and not need an excuse for why they were gone."

"Fair point."

"Get to work, I'll see you when your shift ends," Doc said, patting his shoulder before waving goodbye. 

"Fine, see you later," Ren said, waving back, before finally going to the back to start the day.

Chapter Text

"So, Ren. You gonna tell me why you brought me to the park?" Doc asked, a smile on his face as Ren led and sat him on a bench.

"Can't a man just enjoy some quality time outside with his best bud?" He questioned back, laughing to himself. 

"While I am proud to be called your best bud, I can tell by how hard your tail is wagging that there is something more going on." Doc laughed as he watched Ren's face turn red from embarrassment.

"Ignoring that, you are completely correct in your assumption that this is more than just a park trip," Ren said, grabbing a small black felt bag out of his hood pocket. "This is for you." He put it in Doc's hand. 

Doc opened it and pulled out a thin gold chain with a netherite charm dangling from it. "This is beautiful."

"Yeah and we match too," Ren said, pulling out an identical necklace from under his hood.

"Wait a minute…don't take this the wrong way but how did you get this? Last time I checked, it was definitely more than what you make."

"You see…about that…both necklaces were tips I got," he answered, laughing to himself as he rubbed the back of his head. 

"You got these as tips while working in a café?" Doc asked, a smirk on his face.

"They weren't tips from the café."

"They weren't?"

"Nope."

"Then what were you being tipped for?" Doc leaned forward, head in his hands and arms on his legs. This was going to be fun to hear.

"Let's just say that if you treat a blond rich kid good, then their blond rich dad will treat you ten fold," Ren said, a bit sheepish as he sat on the bench beside Doc.

"Now I definitely got to know the full story."

"Alright, short or long version?"

"Long version."

Ren sighed and leaned back against the bench, arms behind his head. "Alright then. A few nights ago Grimm Dog got antsy and wanted to go on patrol…"

—

"Reeeen, I'm bored. I want to come out."

"Maybe if you ask nicely then you can come out."

Grimm sighed. "Fine, please can I come out and go on patrol."

"Let me think…"

"You just said if I asked nicely you would let me out asshole!"

"First off, I said maybe. Second, I was about to say yes but you called me a naughty word so-"

"I'm sorry, please let me out." 

"You're lucky I forgive you, you can go on patrol," Ren said, after laughing. 

"Yes," Grimm said before taking control, Ren's body going gray-scale and shadows surrounding him in a robe-like manner. "Finally."

"Before you go, please try not to get stabbed again. The stitches from the last two stabs were just removed and Doc would have a heart attack if he had to give us new ones." Ren warned him.

—

"Hey! I absolutely would not have a heart attack," Doc protested, interrupting the story.

"Do you wanna know what happened or not?" Ren asked Doc through his laughter. 

"Yes, yes I do."

"Then no more interrupting. After I warned him not to get stabbed he headed out through my window and into the city."

—

There wasn't much going on that night. Grimm had managed to stop a few amateur muggers but that was really all there was. 

He was sitting on the edge of a building when he saw it. A blonde teenage boy was running down the sidewalk, limping some, away from a person in a green cloak and a very sloppy smiley face mask. Said masked person was holding a one-sided ax and just walking. Grimm decided to hang back and watch what happened before going to deal with it.

"Oh Tommy. You know you can't run from me forever," the masked man taunted. The boy was almost out of breath at this point, obviously in pain, and did what Grimm would consider the dumbest thing to do in this situation. He looked behind himself and ended up tripping on the sidewalk. The masked man made easy progress to him and the boy ended up face to face with them, still on the ground. Maybe it was time to step in. Grimm immediately melted into the shadows and went down into the alley. 

"It's funny how you thought you could get away, but you should know by now that I would've found you eventually," he said, bringing the ax up. "Let's see how your father thinks of seeing his son decapitated." He tried to bring the ax down on the boy but something stopped him. "What the hell." He looked behind him and was met with a punch to the face from Grimm.

Grimm let go of the ax and let the man stumble about. "How's that for an entrance," Grimm said, a big toothy grin on his face. He pushed past the masked man and went to help the boy up, he looked considerably more beat up than he did from a distance. "Hello there, you must be Tommy. I heard him say your name earlier. I'm Grimm Dog," he introduced himself, holding out a hand for Tommy to take. 

"Are you fuckin' crazy!?" Tommy yelled out.

"Yes I am."

"That's the supervillain Nightmare!"

"And?"

"And you just punched him in the face!"

"Yes I did do that, not quite as much power put behind it as I usually use but whatever," Grimm just shrugs his shoulders.

"You fucking bitch," Nightmare said as he finally got up.

"Someone's cranky, need a nap to soothe your nerves?" Grimm mocked, leaning forward with his hands on his hips and giving Nightmare a smirk.

"The only person who'll be taking a nap is you six feet in the ground," Nightmare threatened before swinging his ax at Grimm. He let it cut through him as he straightened himself up.

—

"Have I ever told you how utterly stupid Grimm Dog is?" Doc asked, interrupting again.

"Yes you have." 

"Okay good, you can continue."

—

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Tommy screamed as he watched Grimm get cut in half. 

"I'm fine kid don't worry," Grimm said, the same toothy smile on his face as he looked back at Tommy. "I need you to run and hide, call someone if you need to, okay." Tommy nodded and quickly ran away.

"Not smart to talk plans right in front of the person you're fighting against," Nightmare mocked, going in for another swing with his ax. 

Grimm stepped to the side this time to avoid the ax. "Eh, I don't really care if you hear them or not. Now do you want to give up now or get knocked out trying."

"How about NEITHER!" Nightmare's ax was stopped by the blade of Grimm's scythe.

"You sure you don't want to back down? It'll be so much easier for you."

"I'll stop once I have your head!" 

The fight had been brought out to the middle of the street. Grimm dodged, blocked, and went through all of Nightmare's attacks. "I think your fighting skills need some work buddy, you haven't even hit me once," Grimm said, laughing at the villain.

"You're more annoying than that brat you let run away," Nightmare responded, going in for another attack. 

"Thank you, I try to be," Grimm said, smile widened and laughing some more.

"You won't be laughing soon smart-ass," Nightmare threatened.

"And why's that?" Grimm taunted. 

He watched as Nightmare's body changed, his skin turning a light blue, the hair visible under his hooded cloak turning white, said cloak turned a purple color, and he pulled his mask up just enough to show some very sharp teeth. Grimm stood stock still as he watched Nightmare play around with his new vex magic. "So you're afraid of vexes?" Nightmare taunts looking back at Grimm with a sharp toothy grin.

When Grimm doesn't say anything back, Nightmare laughs. "You're that scared of them. HA! I should've done this sooner." Nightmare shot a blast of vex magic at Grimm, knocking him onto the ground. "Now look who needs some training."

Grimm got up and dusted himself off before grabbing his scythe off the ground and charging at Nightmare. Nightmare backs away from Grimm's swing. "What the hell! You were just paralyzed in fear a second ago!" 

Grimm laughed hard at that. His laughter wasn't just hard though, it was maniacal.

"Shut up!" Nightmare yelled backing up. Grimm continued. 

"I'm sorry, but you thought I was paralyzed in fear? No no no, I wasn't paralyzed at all," Grimm stated, his smile going ear to ear showing his wolf-like teeth. "I was just lost in the thought of how to make your death as painful as possible." 

Nightmare couldn't say anything else as Grimm hit him hard in the side with his scythe, most likely breaking a rib, and continued. Nightmare tried to fight back but it was ultimately pointless. In the end Nightmare had passed out and turned back and Grimm stopped to take a few breaths and assess the damage. 

Nightmare was thoroughly beaten up as some of his limbs were bent in weird ways, blood was visible on multiple areas of his body, and his mask was cracked and dented in the middle of it. Grimm probably went a bit too far on the dude, but could you really blame him for it?

"Is he dead?" Tommy asked, coming out of his hiding spot.

Grimm immediately turned around to look at the kid. "Why the hell are you here, didn't I tell you to run and hide?"

"You did and I did exactly what you told me to do, I just didn't go far cause of my stupid leg and I couldn't call anyone cause the bitch broke my phone. Now answer the question, did you or did you not kill him?"

"No I didn't."

"Why not?"

"Cause as much as I want to kill him, I have enough common sense to know that would put me under villain in the hero's books, if this doesn't do it first."

"No morals?"

"Oh no, definitely not. If allowed I would've killed his ass," Grimm said, with a light-hearted chuckle.

"You know what, big man, I think you're cool."

"Why thank you, kid."

"I'm not a kid," Tommy corrected. 

"Alright then, big man. Now would you happen to know where the nearest police station is?"

"Of course I do," Tommy said, with confidence. 

"Great," Grimm picked up Nightmare. "Let's go then."

—

"They eventually end up going to the police station and the kid's father shows up with some heroes. Turns out said father is the main guy who makes and sells netherite," Ren continued. "He ends up thanking Grimm profusely for saving his son and asks what he would like in return. Grimm asked me and I asked for these necklaces and he met up with the man last night to get them and here we are."

"So what you're saying is Grimm saved the son of Philza Craft, the owner of the number one netherite manufacturing company, and he gave you free netherite charm necklaces without any questions? Not only that, but he defeated the number one villain of Hermitopia's neighboring city, Essempi?" Doc questioned, making sure he got all the information correct. 

"Not exactly. Dude did ask questions as to why I only wanted necklaces, instead of something more," Ren answered simply.

"How did I end up with you as a roommate?" Doc jokingly asked.

"I don't know, dude. Hope I ain't too much trouble," Ren joked back.

"You're probably the farthest thing from trouble I can think of," Doc replied, smiling a bit as he leaned back and looked at the sky.

"Sure I am," Ren said sarcastically before lightly punching Doc's metal arm, regretting it immediately afterwards. "Ow!" Doc laughed, hard, holding his stomach as he laughed. Ren joined him almost immediately after he started. 

Once Doc was calmed down enough he wiped a tear from his eye and looked at Ren. "Thank you, man."

"You're welcome, dude. Want me to help you put it on?"

"Sure."

Ren immediately got up and was behind Doc in seconds, Doc handing him the necklace. Soon after it was on him. "Thank you again."

"Not a problem. We're best buds after all."

Doc just smiled. He was happy to have met Ren, even happier to admit that he was his best friend.

Chapter Text

It was night out when Doc decided to leave the apartment, telling Ren before he left. He was in his villain outfit, consisting of a lab coat, jeans, and army boots. The night was nice, just standing there on the rooftop. That didn't stop someone from interrupting Doc's peace.

"Doctor Goat, I'm surprised I actually found you," the person behind him said.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Doc asked, a bit annoyed. He was hoping to just relax a bit before working on some projects. 

Turning around, he was met with a person dressed in a purple to black cloak, with a golden eye-like pattern on the bottom and gold chain and clasps holding it together. A pure white mask with a weird purple broken rectangle in the middle covering the top half of their face. Underneath the cloak, they wore a black sleeveless turtleneck, a flowy royal purple half skirt that reached down to their calfs, a gold ring belt, gold wrist bands, and black heel with gold straps and tips. Doc's immediate thoughts on the outfit were asking how they got up here in those heels. 

"Who I am is not important, but what I want is. To me at least. You see, there's this nuisance that I need taken care of-"

"No can do," Doc interrupted, before they could even finish. 

"You didn't even let me finish," they said, sounding annoyed. 

"Yes, because I already knew what you were about to ask. You want me to capture this person and or make a device to help with capture," Doc explained, crossing his arms. "Unlucky for you though because I only do weapons."

"But I'm sure with your expertise in redstone engineering you could make what I want with ease."

"Oh I know I can. I just don't make them for people."

"And why not?" They ask. Doc could just tell they were getting more annoyed with him the more they talked. 

"I don't do the whole 'kidnapping' thing," Doc answered, simply. "So you're better off finding someone else."

"What if I told you it was CuteGuy?"

"Then the answer would change from 'no' to 'hell no'," Doc answered. "Have you not seen his partner? I would rather keep them in my 'okay' list, thank you very much." Doc knew very well how that pair worked, if one were to get critically injured the other would protect them with everything they had. They also weren't ever far apart from each other, with HotGuy on the ground and CuteGuy in the sky above him. So to try and capture CuteGuy you would have to both get him down to the ground and get through HotGuy, that was just too much to try and do.

The person sighed. "Fine, guess I'll have to do it the hard way then," they said, turning around to leave. "See you again Doctor Goat." Doc half expected them to turn around and attack him, but instead they just leave jumping off the roof to the alley below. 

'Weirdo,' Doc thought, before deciding to go home. It was far past time to be in bed anyway. 

Chapter Text

"Doc! Doc! Doc!" 

Ren ran out of his bedroom and skidded to a stop in front Doc, a slim square case in his hand and a wide smile on his face. Doc could practically feel the joy radiating all around the living room. "Guess what I just found, dude."

"Something good I presume, if your tail wagging has anything to say about it," Doc joked, making both of them laugh a bit.

"It's definitely good, trust me."

"Then what is it?" Doc asked, intrigued to know what Ren found to make him this happy.

"It's my high-school play, dude," Ren answered, holding out the case for Doc to take a look. "Found it in my 'random but sentimental' box."

"I heard you were a theater kid. I wonder…do I still have it?" Doc set the case on the coffee table and went to his room, Ren following him.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Ren asked, peeking his head into Doc's room.

"My DVD player," Doc answered, rummaging through his closet. 

"You have a DVD player?"

"Never know when you might need one."

"True."

"Aha! Found it." Doc pulled out a DVD player from the top shelf of his closet, a layer of dust sat on top of it. "Let me connect this to the TV and we can watch your play."

"Really?" Ren asked, tail wagging faster at the thought.

"Of course, man. I need to see if what Etho said about you being scary was justified," Doc answered easily. 

"It wasn't, he was just being a scaredy-cat," Ren said, giggling to himself. "Imma go get the living room ready while you do your thing." With that Ren left, leaving Doc to wonder what actually happened. He just shrugs, he'll figure it out soon enough. 

—

Doc put in the final cord to the DVD player into the TV while Ren situated himself on the couch. Ren had been making popcorn, getting drinks, and getting blankets. 

"We all hooked over there, Doc?" Ren asked, bringing the popcorn bowl into his lap.

"Yep, all we need now is to put this disc in."

"Put it in and get your butt over here, dude. I got popcorn and tea," Ren said excitedly. 

"I'm working on it, be patient," Doc replied back, laughing a bit as he grabbed the disc case. Opening it up revealed a plain disc with 'Life' written on it in black sharpie and the date written below it. He pops it into the DVD player and goes to his spot on the couch next to Ren as it starts. 

On the screen, two people walk onto the stage. One was a blonde pink sheep hybrid in a black tuxedo and red bow tie and the other was a human with long pink hair wearing almost the same thing as the sheep hybrid, but instead of dress pants they were wearing a black skirt. 

"Who are they?" Doc asked Ren.

"The pink haired woman is Lizzie and the sheep hybrid is Zed, they're the narrators," Ren answered, waiting for the play to begin.

"Ahem…ladies, gentlemen, and all those in between, the show is about to begin," Lizzie said, gaining the audience's attention.

"For those who don't know, this story is filled with gore, anger, happiness, and agony," Zed said, dramatically. 

"Now Zed, don't go spitting it out like you normally do," Lizzie playfully scolded.

"What do you mean by that, Lizzie?"

"I mean that you need to tell the story at a speed significantly slower than a hundred miles per hour," she deadpanned, making the audience, and both Doc and Ren, laugh. 

"I do not!" Zed refuted, getting defensive.

"Sure you don't. Let's get on with the show shall we."

"Fine, but we will be talking about this later." Zed proclaimed pointing a finger at Lizzie, before taking a deep breath and composing himself. "Our story begins in a land far in the past. The land itself filled with different biomes ranging from beautiful flower fields surrounded by hills to the scorching desert."

"It is here where our death match begins."

"WELCOME TO THE LIFE GAMES!" They both announced, bowing to the audience before going separate ways off the stage. The curtain behind them opened up to reveal the cast.

"It's finally begun," Ren said to himself as he watched.

Doc continued to watch the play on screen. It began with the cast going separate ways to explore the land around them, some going alone and others in groups. Ren had informed him who was who, with the cast not using fake names on stage. He was certainly surprised to find out that both Grian and Scar were there as well, even more when he saw that the school had allowed Scar to be shirtless for the play. How was he so ripped!?

They explained the premise of the game, all of them having three lives and the last person standing won. Simple enough really. To say Doc was intrigued to find out who won in the end wouldn't be a lie.

—

The first few deaths had happened.

Scar had already died twice, once to a creeper from Grian and another from falling to his death. A few more people died in Tango's 'Dare to Flare' mini game, the effects they used for that part were surprisingly good for a high-school play, and three people died trying to defuse a bomb Grian set up, one of them was Ren. He was glad Grian wasn't a villain, but that laugh of his could definitely make you believe he was.

Lizzie and Zed were coming back on stage as the curtain closed behind them, conversating between themselves as if no one was watching.

"You really think the Hobbits are going to win this? Jimmy literally died trying to diffuse a bomb," Zed explained to Lizzie as they walked on stage.

"I like their ascetic, and I'm sure Scott could carry them both to the finals," Lizzie replied. "I'm just trying to figure out why you think the people of Monopoly Mountain would win, Grian was the reason for his teammate's first death and Scar killed himself by not looking where he was going and is on his last life." 

"So is Jimmy! Oh we got here faster than I thought. Sorry about our little squabble, someone just doesn't know what they're talking about. OW!" Zed immediately got elbowed hard in the side.

"Anyway, getting back to our job, as you saw everyone was going into different factions. Examples being the Hobbits, the Sand People, the Village people, the people of the Crastle, and Dogwarts," Lizzie explained. As she did Zed would notice the curtain opening again. "Each faction would try to get a monopoly on a resource no one else had, whether it be wood-"

"Lizzie," Zed tried to interrupt, the curtain opening more.

"Sand-"

"Lizzie," he tried again to interrupt.

Doc could feel Ren's tail beating the couch, he laughed a bit to himself. This must've been a good scene to play out.

"Not now," she whisper yelled. "And other items."

"LIZZIE!" Zed finally yelled.

"What!" Lizzie turned around to face Zed, seeing the curtain fully open. "Oh."

A spotlight shined down on the middle of the stage, revealing Ren and Martyn on a stone platform. Ren was wearing his crown and holding a battle ax in hand while facing Martyn, his hand. 

"My king, have you finally figured out how we can retaliate against the sand people?" Martyn asked, smile on his face as he looked to his king for guidance. It was weird seeing him like this, considering the last time Doc saw him he tried to kill them both.

Ren had a forlorn expression on his face as he looked down at the ax in his hand. "I do but you won't like it."

Martyn's smile dropped a bit. "What do you mean?"

"I need you to kill me."

"What!?"

"You heard me. We can't do anything to them if one of us ain't red."

"Isn't there another way of going about this though?" Martyn asked, desperate to find another way of going about this. 

"If there was, I wouldn't be asking this of you," Ren said to his hand, holding out the ax.

"There has to be another way of going about this though."

"I'm sorry but the Red King must rise. Now, my hand, use this ax to take my head off my shoulders." Ren knelt down on one knee, holding out his ax for Martyn to take. His hand took it, hesitantly, and went to the side of Ren facing the audience. 

"What is he-" Zed started to say before Martyn brought up the ax. He brought the ax blade down but before it could connect to Ren's neck the lights went out, the sound of a thud coming from the stage.

"Oh my God." The spotlight came back on revealing Martyn holding a bloody ax and covering his mouth, some blood on him as well. "What have I done?" Ren's body laid on the ground, his head off his shoulders and blood pooling around from where his head should be. "What have I done!?"

Doc knew this was fake, Ren was sitting right next to him, but he just couldn't stop staring. "What the fuck," he mumbled to himself.

Martyn sat on his knees over his dead king's body, still holding the ax, as maniacal laughter rang out around him. 

"RED WINTER IS COMING!" Ren's voice announced, heavily accented now.

"I think an intermission is in order. Come on Zed," Lizzie decided, grabbing Zed's arm and walking off the stage as the curtains closed.

"Did you not just see what happened!? King got his head cut off!" Zed yelled in disbelief, his voice fading as they got off the stage. A twenty minute countdown started on screen.

Doc took the time to process what just happened. "What the FUCK!?"

Ren started laughing, holding his stomach as he did. "What do you mean?" Ren asked, innocently, after he got control of himself.

"You got your head cut off!" Doc exclaimed, gesturing wildly at the TV.

"If it makes you feel better, the body that was bleeding on the ground wasn't real," Ren reassured, chuckling to himself. 

"How the hell did high-schoolers get a hold of that kind of prop?"

"We asked the art kids to make a decapitated me. You should've seen the look they gave us, some were about to jump out of their seats while others looked at us like we were crazy. Can't help but wonder why?"

"A theater kid asks for a decapitated version of themself for a play. Wouldn't you think that would be a little bit odd?" Doc asked, trying to find out who in their right mind would ask for that. Said person was right in front of him.

"Nope, I would think they're dedicated to the part they play," Ren answered easily.

Doc sighed. "How did I end up with you as my roommate?"

"Aww, Doc, don't be like that. You know you love me."

"Of course."

"Ok we are back. Hello again." Zed had come back on stage, without Lizzie. "Hope everyone had a good break, but now it's time to get back to our scheduled programming. Enjoy." 

The curtain was pulled back and the play continued. 

—

Ren was teary eyed when the play finished, and Doc couldn't blame him. 

The ending was anything but a 'happily ever after'. People died during the red wars, some through battle and others through betrayal. The final battle was set in a cactus ring and was a fist fight between Scar and Grian, two people who stayed by each other's side the whole time. Grian had won, but in the end he jumped off the cliff, not being able to live with the guilt of killing his partner. 

Out of all this though, Doc was hung up on the fact that Ren was as scary as the man said he was. Ren not only looked the part of a king who sacrificed himself to a more blood thirsty side of himself, he acted like one too.

"Etho was right, you were scary," Doc said aloud, still trying to comprehend the fact that his roommate could possibly play a better villain than him.

"Thank the makeup artist," Ren replied, hugging his knees into his chest.

"It wasn't just the looks. Your acting skills were better than some of the professionals I've seen," Doc explained himself, looking at Ren with a smile on his face. "If you were a villain you'd be the scariest one out there."

Ren laughed at that. "Really?"

"Yes, really!" Doc exclaimed, making Ren laugh some more.

"Thank Martyn for it, he was the one to convince me to do the part," Ren explained. Doc noticed Ren's far away look.

"How so?"

"Oh you don't want to know," Ren waved off.

"Oh but I do want to know now," Doc said with a smirk.

"Alright fine, I'll tell you," Ren gave in. "I originally auditioned for the part but didn't get it the first time through because of stage fright," he started to explain. "Martyn was already in it but they still needed a king so he went around the school in search of some natural talent. He ended up finding me in one of the backstage areas of the auditorium acting out some of the lines given for the audition and instead of telling me he was there he took a video and sent it to the rest of the theater club. Including my reaction on finding out he was there." Ren finished, rubbing the back of his head and his face a bit red remembering how embarrassing that was. "After that me and Martyn started hanging out together more often."

"So that's how you and Martyn met." 

"Yep, he helped me through my stage fright and we just clung together after that," Ren chuckled a bit before his ears drooped down a bit, his smile following along. "I miss him."

Doc pulled him into a side hug. "I know you do, buddy."

"Hey Doc…can you promise me something?"

"Depends, what is it?"

"Please never leave."

"I won't," Doc answered, immediately pulling Ren closer. "Promise."

Chapter Text

Ren felt off.

He didn't know what had caused it, but ever since he entered the café he felt watched. 

The weather wasn't helping him in the slightest. Ren had a love/hate relationship with the rain. If it was a calm drizzle then he would enjoy listening to it hit different surfaces and possibly be outside if it wasn't too cold. If it was pouring down, however, he would try and focus on something else and stay inside as it was too loud outside. There was also the chance of thunder, which made being outside a nightmare. So to say the day was going wonderfully would be an understatement. 

The bell above the door rang, signaling someone coming in and making Ren jump a bit.

"Welcome to Red Velvet, what can I get for you today," he said in his best customer service voice. 

The person who came in had fluffy platinum blonde hair and looked like they were from the more wealthy side of the city, with their long, expensive looking, purple puffy coat and black heels with gold straps. They also had on purple eyeshadow and lipstick, with black eyeliner as well. How one could be outside in heels when it was raining, he didn't know.

The feeling Ren had grew worse the closer they got, but he kept up appearances with a smile on his face. He was an actor after all.

"Hmm…I don't know, let me think for a moment," they said, tapping a finger in their chin. "How about a medium vanilla latte and a slice of Bad Boy's Bread."

Ren rung up their order and they pay for it. He didn't know why but this person just gave him the creeps, real bad, feeling like he was constantly being watched. Guess that would make a bit of sense when the person your making the order for is watching you make it from the pick up counter, at least the feeling watched part.

He got done making the latte, sitting it on the counter, and started bagging up the bread when they spoke up again. "So who's your favorite villain?" They ask him.

"Isn't the question supposed to be 'who's your favorite hero'?" Ren jokingly asked.

"That question gets repeated over and over again, same thing with the answers. It's mostly HotGuy or CuteGuy," they explained as Ren handed them their bread. "Besides, you can learn a lot about a person depending on their answer."

Ren thought for a moment. "Either Doctor Goat or Dionysus," he answered.

"Oooo you like flashy villains," they said, leaning onto the counter.

"I wouldn't really say flashy, more like good at presentation. Who's your favorite?" Ren asked, jokingly. 

"Thought you'd never ask, mine's Watcher." They answered standing up straight. Ren immediately regretted asking. "They just have the best outfit and you can't forget their sword."

"Yeah, can't forget their…sword," Ren parotted, trying not to think of that gosh darn sword.

"Exactly! They disappeared though so no recent news about them has popped up but I'm sure they'll come back."

"Let's hope not," Ren mumbled to himself, wishing someone to come in so he could leave this conversation.

"How come? Oh wait, now I get it! You're the person from that one incident a few years ago aren't you, the person that Watcher threw off a building?" They asked, oddly enthusiastically.

"Yeah…can we not talk about that?" It took everything in himself to not break at that moment. He absolutely hated getting recognized for that incident, not only did it bring unnecessary attention onto him, it brought up memories he'd rather forget.

"Why wouldn't we? You were the last person seen with them before they suddenly disappeared! How did that feel, those few days of fame?" They asked Ren, leaning back on the counter and resting their head on their hands and giving Ren a smug look.

Ren's facade was now gone, not even his sunglasses could hide that fact. All he wanted to do was leave, but couldn't find it in himself to move. The person in front of him seemed to be enjoying themselves watching his ever growing panic. Before he could go into a full blown panic attack though, someone touched his arm, making him flinch.

"What seems to be going on here?" Scar asked, in his usual upbeat tone and a smile on his face. Ren swore he heard a bit of agitation in his tone though.

"Oh we were just talking," the person answered with their own smile, getting off the counter and grabbing their items. "See you around Ren." They wave and leave, pulling up their hood so as to not get completely soaked by the rain.

As soon as they left, Ren broke. Tears started coming down from behind his sunglasses as he sobbed. Scar led him to one of the many empty seats, wheeling over to the door to flip the sign to close, then coming back and wrapping his arms around Ren. Ren gripped onto Scar's blue cardigan, burying his head in Scar's shoulder, and sobbed as Scar rubbed circles into his back. 

The two of them stayed like that for a while until Ren calmed down enough to pull himself off of Scar, taking off his sunglasses to wipe away the remaining tears. "Thanks, man."

"Not a problem," Scar replied with a comforting smile on his face. "Now tell me what happened." 

Ren explained everything that happened, including the weird feeling he had of being watched before they came in and how it got worse when they did. He told Scar everything he could before he broke again, this time with his sunglasses on the table beside them. Scar did the same thing he did before, not caring about how snot and tears were getting on his cardigan. 

Grian eventually came by with a glass of water and napkins in hand, placing them on the table next to his sunglasses. "I contacted Doc telling him what happened, he should be here soon to come take you home," Grian said, rubbing Ren's back some before pulling away.

"Thank you," Ren said, gratefully.

"No problem," Grian assured him. "I need to talk with Scar for a bit, will you be ok by yourself or do you want us to stay with you until doc gets here?"

"I'll be fine, besides," Ren picked up Jellie from under the table and put her on his lap, "I have Jellie to keep me company."

"Alright then, yell when you're leaving," Grian said, walking towards the back.

"Now, Jellie, I need you to make sure that if Ren needs it to come get us. You got that?" Scar asked Jellie, giving her a few pets.

"Come on Scar!" Grian called out.

"Coming! Now remember what I said Jellie, if needed come get us." After giving Jellie a few more pets, Scar finally goes to the back to talk with Grian. He sat there for a bit petting Jellie as she purred in his lap, while waiting for Doc. 

He didn't have to wait long as after a few minutes he saw Doc running to the door, almost slipping as he made his way in. Ren watched as the man put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "You good?"

"I really should be asking you that," Doc replied back, standing up straighter as he got ahold of his breath. Looking at him Ren could obviously tell he was drenched, but he was holding an umbrella. 

"Why didn't you use your umbrella? You're soaked," Ren asked, jokingly. 

"I grabbed it, but forgot to use it. Now can you please tell me why I got a text from G saying, and I quote, 'I need you to pick up Ren, please hurry'?"

"Of course he didn't say anything about what was going on. I'll tell you when we get home, promise, just need to wind down a bit before I can recount it again."

"Alright, but I'm holding you to that," Doc replied.

"Thought you might."

"Good now let's go home, I'm cold," Doc states as he walks toward the door. 

"Maybe next time use the umbrella."

"Definitely keeping that in mind."

—

Ren was finally in bed, tired after all that had happened. He told Doc everything that happened, Ren having to make sure Doc didn't set off the fire alarms with all the smoke coming out his mouth. Doc was definitely mad about what happened to him, if the lingering smell of gunpowder didn't point that out enough. Ren did end up convincing him not to hunt them down though, so that's a plus.

Now he was in bed thinking over the events himself, catching a small but scary detail in the process. 

'How did they know my name?'

Chapter Text

Doc immediately woke up to the sound of breaking glass, coming from the kitchen. Grabbing one of the many small weapons in his room, a custom made dart pistol, from his bedside table he silently creeps out of his room to investigate. Maybe that was a bit much, but they had it coming if they decided to break into his home. 

Besides, it’s not like he was going to kill them. He’s a super villain, not a common killer. 

Making it out towards the living room, Doc noticed that the window wasn’t broken nor was anything else. Taking a peek around the corner, into the kitchen, gave him an answer as to what broke. It also ended up giving him more questions. 

Ren was crouched down carefully picking up shards of glass from the floor and throwing them away in a nearby trash can. 

“Ren?” Doc sleepily asked as he came further out. 

Ren yelped, jumping a bit in surprise and accidentally cutting his hand with a piece of glass. Doc immediately put the dart gun on the counter and knelt next to Ren. “What are you doing up this late?” He asked Ren, taking his now bleeding hand and looking over the cut. 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Ren replied, holding back a wince. 

“Woke up. Stay here, I’m getting the med kit,” Doc answered easily, getting up and going to the bathroom. After getting the med kit from under the sink, he comes back and starts to clean the cut. 

“Could’ve warned me this stuff stung,” Ren winced, trying to stay still.

“And you can tell me what’s up,” Doc retorted, continuing to clean the cut with a rag. The cut itself went straight from one side to the other on Ren’s left palm, but wasn’t deep enough to require serious treatment, just a good clean and some gauze. 

“Just went to get a drink and dropped the glass, that’s all,” Ren answered, earning a very skeptical look from Doc. 

“I know that’s not all of it. You’re never up at this time of night, even on patrol nights,” Doc stated, matter-of-factly. “Is it about what happened at work?”

Ren didn’t say a word, but his body language gave Doc all the answers he needed. His ears were drooped down and he was doing everything not to look Doc in the eyes. 

Doc sighed, wrapping up the cut. “If it’s keeping you up then you need to tell someone.”

“It’s nothing important.”

“It obviously is if this is how you're acting about it. Now tell me, what’s up?” Doc finished wrapping up the cut and gently held it, rubbing his thumb up and down Ren’s hand. Ren mumbled something in response, making Doc give a questioning look. 

Ren took a deep breath before repeating himself. “They knew my name.”

“The person who was bothering you yesterday?” Doc questioned.

“Yes.”

“Did you not give it to them?”

“I didn’t, so how would they know!?” He exclaimed, throwing his free hand in the air. “Top that off with the fact that I was feeling watched and that they mentioned them. What if that was just a warning, that they’re coming back?” Ren’s breathing was beginning to quicken, grabbing his own hair in a tight grip. 

Doc gently grabbed Ren’s other hand, making him loosen his grip, and held his hands in a firm but gentle hold. “Hey I need you to breathe with me, ok. In for four…hold for seven…out for eight,” he did an exaggerated example, with Ren following as best he could, repeating it until Ren’s panic subsided enough that he wasn’t going to pass out from hyperventilation. “Better?”

Ren just nodded in response, looking down at the ground they sat on. 

Doc let go of Ren’s hands to get himself off the floor. “Let’s get to a more comfortable place.” He leaned back down and grabbed Ren under the arms, making the hybrid yelp in surprise. “Up up up,” he said, like a parent to a child, easily picking Ren up and off the ground and setting him on the couch. 

Ren watched as Doc left, after dropping him off, to clean up the broken glass and put up the med kit. Watching Doc clean it up made Ren realize he could’ve saved a lot of time just using the broom instead of his hands. It also made him aware of how tired he was.

Doc eventually came back and sat down next to Ren, grabbing the remote. “Anything particular you want to watch?” He asked, looking over at Ren. 

“Pokémon,” Ren answered, through a yawn. 

“Any particular series?”

“The first one.”

“Alright.” 

Ren didn’t even make it to the end of the first episode before falling asleep on top of Doc. Gently picking him up, Doc brought him to his bed and laid him down. Doc then got himself a few pillows and a blanket, situating them on the floor in a makeshift bed. 

Might as well stay in there if Ren needs him after all. 

Chapter Text

Doc had to find out what was going on. All he had to go off of was what Ren and other people told him, but if just the thought of this ‘Watcher’ person caused Ren that much distress,he had to have the full picture. 

So while Ren went to work, Doc went to his desk to find more information on the Watcher.

Thinking back on their conversation after what happened at the café, Ren had been a bit vague on what caused him to panic in the first place. Sure he did tell him everything, but he didn’t go into much detail on what exactly was brought up. Just that it had some correlation to the Watcher, which is bad in and of itself. 

Things about the Watcher were surprisingly easy to find, just typing in their name pulled up multiple different news articles and social media posts. Almost all of them were about the sudden disappearance and/or last sighting of them. Now it’s not that he didn’t know what happened then himself, he heard about it from passing people, he was just dealing with his own problems at the time. 

So to say he wasn’t a bit intrigued to know what got people talking would be a lie. 

Doc opened the Hermit Recap website article and started to skim through it, finding a video at the end. Clicking play, he watched, leaning back in his chair to get a full view.

“We are here at the scene where law enforcement and heroes are gathered to try and stop the infamous super villain Watcher. It seems as though they are standing back at the moment though,” the reporter says into their mic. The man had brown hair and beard and wore a blue jacket, with black and white stripes down the arms, with a green shirt underneath it. He looked slightly younger but Doc could easily recognize him as one of the head people of the Hermit Recap. 

“EVERYONE STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Someone yelled from the top of the building. The camera immediately moved up to reveal someone Doc recognized. Their outfit was a bit different but the white mask, with that purple broken rectangle in the middle, was the exact same. They didn’t have the same cloak on, this one just purple with silver clasps, and they went with more silver than gold but this was the person that Doc met on the rooftop. That was the Watcher. 

It seemed Watcher just got out of a tussle as their hood was down revealing messy platinum blonde hair. Not only that, but they had a pretty good scratch on their cheek. Whoever was struggling against them got them good. 

Then he saw who it was and he couldn’t help but freeze himself. 

The camera decided to focus on the Watcher holding up Ren, by the throat, over the edge. Ren’s legs kicked widely, his body visibly trembling on video. 

“THIS CITY WILL FALL BY MY HAND!” Watcher shouted out to the onlookers below. “LET THIS BOY BE AN EXAMPLE TO EVERYONE WHO GETS IN MY WAY!”

They dropped Ren. 

Doc couldn’t help but watch as he saw him drop. He didn’t notice the sound of the door opening. 

“Doc, what are you doing?” Ren asked, making Doc almost jump out of his chair as he scrambled to pause what he was watching. 

“Nothing,” Doc answered, very convincingly. 

Ren rolled his eyes. “Sure you aren’t. Now come on, you're teaching me how to make stir fry.” He walked out of the doorway and to the kitchen. 

Doc sighed in relief, minimizing the page to look at a later date. He could look more into it later. 

Right now though, he had to go teach Ren how to cook. 

Chapter Text

“Are you sure this is the place XVoid mentioned?”

“Yes, HotGuy, it is.”

“Are you sure? It seems to just be a normal street to me.”

HotGuy looked down onto the street from atop a roof, a foot on the ledge with an arm resting on it. His hero costume consisted of a black skin tight shirt with a blue and orange logo across his chest, black army like pants,  black heavy duty boots, fingerless gloves, quiver on his back, and a pair of sunglasses covering his face. Somehow that was what was keeping his identity a secret, the visible scars up and down his arms and the few on his face not giving him away. HotGuy held his bow with his other hand, having it there if needed. 

“I’m sure, HotGuy,” the other man answered. Unlike his partner, he hid his face with a black mask, had on a white sleeveless turtleneck with a pink and blue heart-like logo on his chest and a pink and blue colorblock hoodie over it, white cargo shorts with a black utility belt and quiver, and black army boots. On his back are a pair of large raven colored wings, neatly folded behind him with a few feathers behind his ears. He held his crossbow readily, already having it loaded, and looking down at the surrounding area from the opposite side of the roof. 

Silence filled the air before HotGuy let out a long, dramatic, yawn. “Maybe they went further down the road, CuteGuy.”

CuteGuy face palms, why was he considered the sidekick of the duo. “We are here because they come down this road most often. XVoid told us to station ourselves here so we could follow them once they come by.”

“Exactly, ‘most often’, not all the time. So what if they went somewhere else?”

“Then we’ll look someplace different next time, right now though this is where our stake out spot is so we’re staying.”

“Fine, I’ll stay,” HotGuy said, accepting defeat and looking out at the city. 

“Good.”

Their conversation stopped there, being replaced by as much silence a city night would allow.

Then someone tapped his shoulder. 

CuteGuy rolled his eyes as he continued to watch the city below. “What is it now, HotGuy?”

“Nothing, why?”

“You tapped my shoulder.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Then who-“

CuteGuy suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Slowly turning around he was met with none other than Phobos. 

Phobos stared straight at him, his only visible eye crinkled as if he was smiling and silently telling him to be quiet. His mask was pitch black with a single eye hole revealing a shining red eye, his hair white and messy. His outfit consisted of a forest green parka with white fur on the hood, a black shirt that seemed to have a built in mask under it, navy blue pants, and black steel-toe boots. 

Just a gaze from him would send people running. 

HotGuy turned around to look at his partner. “Is everything alrigh- OH MY GOSH!” He almost ended up tripping over the edge of the roof. 

“Hello to you too, HotGuy,” Phobos greeted cheerfully, now looking over at HotGuy instead of leaning over CuteGuy. 

HotGuy quickly gains back his composure and readying up his bow, aiming an arrow at Phobos. “What do you want evildoer?”

“Woah there, no need for the weapons friends. I just came to have a chat,” Phobos replied, putting his hands in the air. 

“Then stop dilly dallying and get to it,” CuteGuy said, bringing up his crossbow. 

“I’ll start talking when everyone has their weapons down,” Phobos replied, glaring specifically at HotGuy. 

HotGuy sighed and lowered his bow, the arrow still knocked and ready. “Alright then.”

“Thank you, now if only your partner was any more cooperative.” Phobos put his hands down and in his pockets. 

“Well I’m sorry, but who’s the wanted super villain here?” CuteGuy asked, sarcastically. 

“Well if you’d listen you’d know I’m trying to find the same guy you are, buuut you aren’t so imma just go,” Phobos said, turning around to leave. 

HotGuy looks at his partner, silently telling him to cooperate. CuteGuy sighed in annoyance before calling out, and lowering his crossbow. “Wait!”

“Now are you willing to listen?” Phobos asked, a smirk clear in his voice. 

“Of course we are,” HotGuy replied eagerly. 

“Don’t these things usually come with a price?” CuteGuy questioned, staring daggers at Phobos. 

“They do, usually, but I’ll give this away freely,” Phobos answered.

“And why would you do that?” CuteGuy asked, skeptical of what the villain was offering. He was quickly elbowed in the side by his partner. “Hey, it's a fair question!”

“You don’t question free information,” HotGuy whisper-shouted. 

“No, it’s totally fine,” Phobos waved off. “If you really want to know, the guy pissed me off recently so this is payback.”

“And why couldn’t you deal with this yourself?” HotGuy asked, now curious as to why a villain was giving info as payback instead of just going after them. He’s seen, and been a part of, plenty of quarrels between PO’d villains with almost all of them ending in anger filled fights. So to see a villain, especially someone like Phobos, approach them and just offer information without payment as a come back…well it definitely says something. 

“Well if I could, I would,” Phobos answered, rage evident in his tone even when controlled. 

HotGuy and CuteGuy shared a look with each other, silently asking the other, ‘ who the hell is this person!? ’ before looking back at Phobos. 

HotGuy was the one to break their eye contact, looking back at the villain. “What can you tell us?” 

“I can tell you his alias and strength level. It’s not much but it’s all I have at the moment,” Phobos answered easily.

“So you’re telling us that you barely have any information on the guy,” CuteGuy deadpanned. “What did they even do to piss you off?”

“Do you really want to know?” Phobos asked. 

“Yes cause if it’s something petty I’m not letting us get mixed into it. We don’t need villains coming after us because of something silly,” CuteGuy explained. 

“Sad to say, but he has a point,” HotGuy agreed. 

“Would you call having Doctor Goat call you in the middle of the night, on the verge of a panic attack, while also holding a bleeding Grimm Dog, petty?” Phobos asked, in a serious tone.

“Don’t those two have a thing against each other?”

“Fear brings out a lot of things,” Phobos shrugged. “But back on topic, according to Grimm Dog the guy calls himself the Listener, carries around a ton of daggers, and can hold his own against Grimm with only a few scratches on his person.”

“Does the Listener have any abilities?” HotGuy asked. 

“Not that I know of. Like I said, I don't know much.”

“That’s fine, I’m sure we could figure it out. Thank you.”

“Not a problem,” Phobos turned to leave. “I better get going before Mossy Boy yells at me,” he said before waving goodbye. 

That was when CuteGuy’s ear feathers twitched in alarm. CuteGuy launched himself at Phobos, grabbing his parka and pulling him back as a dagger whizzed past his cheek, a paper thin scratch left where the dagger passed. 

“What the hell?” 

“Don’t worry I’m just as confused as you are,” CuteGuy replied, trying to look around for their attacker. “Do you see them, HotGuy?”

HotGuy lifted his bow, pulling back the bowstring, and looked around. “Found em’,” he whispered, a toothy grin on his face as he shot an arrow off in the distance. Said grin was not on his face a second after. “Dang it I missed, they’re on the move.”

Phobos looked over at HotGuy in disbelief. “How did you miss!?”

“They dodged it, that’s how.”

“Guys this is no time to argue,” CuteGuy says, interrupting them before it escalated. “Now come on before they get away.” His ear feathers twitched again as he felt the presence of someone coming close. 

“Behind you!” HotGuy yelled as he aimed his bow at their attacker. 

CuteGuy tried to turn around and get out the way but was quickly grabbed with a dagger to his throat and his hands behind his back. “Don’t move,” his attacker said, voice changer evident. “That goes for everyone.”

Everything went uncomfortably quiet. HotGuy kept his bow aimed at the new villain, but didn’t shoot, Phobos was standing still, hands still in his pockets, and CuteGuy was trying his best not to get his throat sliced by a dagger. All in all everything was going to shit real fast. 

“Can I go, please?” Phobos asked, sounding annoyed with the whole situation.

“What!?” HotGuy exclaimed. “Why would you-“

“I said don’t move,” the villain answered back, pushing the dagger slightly more onto CuteGuy’s throat.

Phobos face palmed. “Oh my goodness, you know it’s beginners like you who give villains a bad rep.”

“And what makes you say I’m a beginner?”

Phobos slides his hand to the side of his face before looking straight at the villain in front of him. “For spores sake, this whole hostage situation you got going on here.”

“This ain’t no ordinary hostage situation,”

“Is that right Listener, cause it sure looks like it to me.”

“Yes, and I’m glad to know my name has been spreading around,” Listener answered. 

Phobos’ hand goes back into his pocket. “Yeah I’ve heard some stuff.” HotGuy noticed some of the nearby street lights went out; watched as a singular ball of light moved around below, darting in and out of alleys. 

“Well, I hope you know it’s easier to just let me do my thing instead of getting in the way.” The light got closer, disappearing one last time in an alley. 

“Exactly now if you could just let me go on my way, I’ll be out of your hair,” Phobos tried to reason. “Besides, it’s not like I care what happens to these two heroes. You’d be doing a lot of people a favor.”

“Then you won’t mind me just killing him, would you?” Listener put a bit more pressure on the dagger, a small drop of blood running down CuteGuy’s neck. 

HotGuy’s gaze was directed at that blood droplet, a mixture of fear and anger welling up, before looking straight at the villain holding him captive and aiming his bow straight at Listener’s head. “Kill him, you're dead.” The ball of light appeared again, this time on the edge of the building they were all on, behind Listener. 

“Alright,” Listener responded. 

About to slit CuteGuy’s throat, a dark root-like thing coming from where the light was grabbing his arm and yanking the dagger away from the hero’s throat. Another root-like thing grabbed at Listener’s other arm, letting CuteGuy go, and lifted him up only to get slammed back down into the concrete roof. CuteGuy quickly took the opportunity to launch himself away, with a flap of his wings, next to his partner. 

Said partner was checking him over for any major damage caused. Gently lifting his chin up to get a good look at the slit. 

A hysterical laughter came from the light, coming closer, revealing a man in a mossy cloak dotted with tiny flowers and mushrooms, a pitch black mask covering the top part of his face, almost glowing bright yellow eyes, only being outshined by the round anglerfish-like lantern attached to the top of his hood, his bare feet on display looking almost the same as the roots in color. The man walked up to the Listener, stomping a foot down on their back. “Teach you to mess with the wrong people, you little shit!” He yelled with a toothy grin, pressing his foot down harder.

“Woo, Mossy Boy is here!” Phobos jokingly cheered. “What took you so long?”

“I came as soon as I could and my name is Moss Boss! Get it right!” Moss Boss yelled out, sounding annoyed. “You’re welcome by the way.”

“Yeah thanks a lot Moss Boy,” Phobos thanked. 

Moss boss face palmed. “Why do I put up with you?”

HotGuy was still looking over CuteGuy, while the other two were bickering. “I think I’m fine now.”

“Oh…” HotGuy let go of CuteGuy’s chin and stepped back. “Sorry.” He looked over towards the two bickering villains, then to the villain on the ground that was now moving to grab Moss Boss’ ankle. “Hey, watch out!” HotGuy warned, immediately aiming an arrow at the Listener. 

“Huh?” Moss Boss looked down as soon as his ankle was grabbed. “Oh you're trying to get free are you?” The foot on Listener’s back morphed and extended into something root-like, wrapping around him and rooting into the concrete. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere pal. Now why don’t you go to sleep?”

“I will not be trapped by a potted house plant,” Listener gritted, gripping harder onto Moss Boss’ ankle. 

That was when it all started to go wrong. 

Moss Boss let out a blood curdling scream, being shocked from the feet up, both him and Listener glowing with a light green lighting.

“MOSS!”

—

Down the road and into a closed arcade, a game cabinet screen turned on lighting up the area around it. The game title ‘King’s Defence’ and its main character showed on the screen with a castle in the background.

“ Can you defend the castle? ” The character said, pointing out towards where the player would be. 

“ Can you defend the c-castle? ” It repeated, the screen glitching out. 

“ C-c-can you de-e-e-fend t-the castle? ” The glitching got worse as the background and title disappeared, leaving the character in a black void screaming in agony as their eyes glowed light green. 

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you’re good to go on a patrol?”

Ren rolled his eyes, a soft smile on his face. Doc was acting like a concerned parent. “I’ll be fine. Besides you made me and Grimm a panic button if things go wrong,” Ren explained. “Also Grimm is getting antsy again and won’t stop annoying me about it.”

Doc sighed, giving in. “Alright, but you two better use that button if anything goes wrong. Got it.”

A black, shadowy, mist circled Ren’s body and soon Grimm was in front of him, shadow robe and all. “We will,” Grimm waved halfway out the door. “Bye Doctor.” 

The door closed and Doc was left standing alone in the living room. He stood there for a bit, gently holding the charm of his necklace and taking a deep breath. 

“The two of them are going to be the death of me,” Doc said to himself before going to the second fridge to grab potion ingredients. He had grenades to make. 

—

“MOSS!”

Phobos went to run towards Moss Boss but was stopped by CuteGuy grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back. 

“GET OFF ME!”

“No, you’ll just end up in the same situation!” CuteGuy yelled over Mos Boss’ screams. 

Soon enough the light green died down, the roots wrapped around Listener retracted back, Moss Boss’ foot returned to normal. Phobos immediately ran to him before he could fall on the concrete, seeing an assortment of lightning shaped burns across his arms, legs, neck, and all the visible parts of his face. His clothes were singed some, and his hair had gained a white streak. Phobos quickly put two fingers on Moss Boss’ neck, checking for a pulse, luckily finding one. 

“Thank goodness,” Phobos exhaled, finally taking some breaths. 

Listener was getting up now, no evidence of getting shocked other than stumbling a bit.

Both HotGuy and CuteGuy aimed their weapons at him. “I wouldn’t move if I were you,” HotGuy said, voice uncharacteristically stern, lacking any of his usual dramatics. 

“You really think that’ll stop me?” Listener sarcastically asked. 

“You little—“ Phobos quickly but gently put Moss Boss’ unconscious body on the ground and grabbed Listener by the shirt collar lifting him off the ground, his eye glowing a brighter red than usual. “Soon enough you’ll be screaming and begging for mercy once I’m done with you,” Phobos seethed. 

“Phobos get away from him!” HotGuy warned. 

“This ain’t your fight pretty boy,” Phobos retorted. 

“I would listen to your hero friend over there, you can not even imagine what you're going up against,” Listener said, not bothering to move from his position. 

Phobos’ eye shone more, before suddenly he threw the Listener back. His eye was wide as he stepped back away from Listener. “What the hell are you?” Phobos asked himself, his voice telling them all they needed to know. 

If Phobos, one of the top fear inducing villains, was afraid of this new villain…well they were all kinda screwed weren’t they. 

Listener, through all of this, was just standing there. “This is taking too long,” he said before running towards where HotGuy and CuteGuy stood. 

Both of them jumped away from each other, firing their arrows at the Listener, CuteGuy nicking his mask and HotGuy impaling his lower arm. It did little though, as he ignored, grabbing two daggers from his cloak and throwing one at each of the heroes, only one hitting their target with CuteGuy’s wing, making him scream in pain. HotGuy managed to dodge it but tripped slightly in the process, catching his footing but was cornered by the Listener in the process and a dagger stabbed into his gut. 

“You should’ve just let me do my job,” Listener whispered. 

“I would rather risk my life a hundred times over than let you hurt my partner,” HotGuy seethed, his ears and teeth becoming sharper. 

Listener shrugged in response, “suit yourself.” He pulls the dagger out of HotGuy and pushes him off the building. 

CuteGuy watched in horror as his partner was thrown, tears of pain turning into tears of fear. He ripped out the dagger in his wing and jumped, pain ignored as he reached out for his partner and wrapped his arms and wings around him, turning his back towards the ground, when caught.

But now both him and HotGuy were barreling towards the ground, quite the predicament wasn’t it. 

Then they stopped. 

“You know, one doesn’t usually jump from a building, much less two,” a voice said from above him. 

Looking around HotGuy’s shoulder he saw Grimm Dog, partially in the wall, gripping onto the back of HotGuy’s shirt with one hand. 

“Dang the both of you are heavy,” Grimm Dog stated, voice strained. 

“This position ain’t that comfortable either,” HotGuy groaned. “Can we get to the ground, please?”

“Alrighty.” Grimm Dog started to slowly go down the wall's shadow, gently setting the hero duo on the ground. “Call the heroes, tell them the situation, and don’t let him,” he pointed at HotGuy, “bleed out, got it?”

CuteGuy simply nodded before putting his jacket on the wound, HotGuy wincing at the touch, and giving a thumbs up. 

Grimm Dog smiled back at them, canines on full display, and melted fully into the shadows and traveled up the wall. 

The sight he was met with was definitely not pretty. With Moss Boss on the ground, unconscious, and Phobos was on the ground with a small puddle of blood forming around his head. The Listener had his foot on Phobos’ head, pushing down hard. 

“Oh it’s you again,” Grimm rolled his eyes, taking in the scene. “Nice to see you haven’t changed much.”

“I’m just doing my job,” Listener replied. 

“And I’m guessing that has something to do with someone here?”

“That is none of your concern.”

Grimm Dog crossed his arms. “Kinda is.”

“Are you done here?” Listener asked, clearly starting to get annoyed. 

“Nope,” Grimm answered. 

Launching at Listener, Grimm Dog summoned his scythe and swung at him, careful to not step on Phobos and causing Listener to step off him. Listener went to attack with his daggers, Grimm sidestepped and kicked him in the back and made him stumble forward. 

“Having fun yet!” Grimm laughed out hysterically, swinging his scythe again. 

Listener just barely dodged it. His grip tightening around his daggers, he lunges at Grimm.

Grimm blocks the daggers with the scythe’s handle. “You know, back in my day, I could handle people like you with ease,” he said, as he pushed against Listener daggers. 

Listener’s body starts to spark. “Well maybe you're just becoming weak, old man,” he snapped as he pushed back

“Now we’re talking,” Grimm said, with a sharp toothy grin. “Maybe if you were like this all the time you’d be more likable.” He managed to push Listener back and punched him in the face, sending him back towards the edge of the building. 

“Let’s play a game suited for my ‘old age’ shall we?” Grimm said, bringing up his scythe. 

“FORE!” He yelled out, swinging his scythe in a club like motion.

As soon as the flat side of the blade hit Listener, he was blinded by both a shocking pain and a bright light in front of him. He gritted his teeth as he kept down his scream and put all his remaining strength into his swing, causing Listener to hit the wall of a nearby building and fall into an alley. 

“Shit,” Grimm breathed out, exhausted from the shock. 

He looked over his shoulder to see the two unconscious villains. “Heh, I think I might just pass out with ya.” Flopping down onto the roof with a small wince he reached into his pocket, grabbing and pressing the small panic button Doc had given him, before spreading out and passing out. 

—

“That was quite the performance there my little listener,” a masked figure said above Listener’s unconscious body, a malicious smirk on their face. 

“What caused you to have such a shocking personality?”

Chapter Text

Ok, so Doc should’ve seen this coming, but to be fair him and Ren have been living here for a good couple months. It was a bit expected, yet also surprising, that one of their neighbors would be at the door complaining about the noise. Luckily he had his disguise on. 

“I don’t know if what you're doing is hobby related or job related but the constant tool noise in the middle of the night makes it hard for me and my partner to sleep,” the woman complained to Doc. 

“I’m sorry about that ma’am, I’ll try not to make much racket in the future,” Doc apologized, adding ‘make room soundproof’ to his mental list of things he needs. 

“You better or else I’ll be taking this complaint straight to the landlord,” she stated. 

“That won’t be necessary,” Doc said, right before an alarm sounded from his room. 

The woman tried to look over his shoulder. “What is that?”

Doc looked over his shoulder wide eyed then back to the lady, a shaky smile on his face. “I’m sorry ma’am that’s my ringtone for important work calls, bye.” 

Doc quickly shut the door and ran to his room, cursing to himself and avoiding the stuff on his floor, and stood over his computer. The screen was red with emergency fading in and out in time with the alarm. Pressing control on the keyboard, Doc brought up a map of the city with a blinking red dot. 

Taking off the disguise ring and putting on half his costume (taking off his heavy-metal band t-shirt and putting on his sleeveless lab coat), not bothering to take off his gray sweatpants and green crocs. He might not look as intimidating but he had something and or someone to deal with. 

—

He was not ready for the sight he ran into. 

Moss Boss was passed out with a new streak of white in his hair and jagged burns across his body; Phobos was unconscious with a small but visible puddle of blood coming from his head; and Grimm Dog was passed out with the same type of burn marks as Moss Boss, just less of them, and was slowly losing his shadow robe. 

Quickly taking off his coat, he rips off a chunk from the bottom and drapes the rest over Grimm, the ripped chunk being used as a temporary thing to soak up some of Phobos’s blood. Doc was so focused on a way to move the two villains and vigilante to somewhere safe that he didn’t notice the sirens blaring down below, nor the footsteps that were coming closer. 

“Doctor Goat, didn’t expect to see you here,” someone said from behind.

Doc quickly got defensive. Lowering Phobos down, the cloth tied around his head to hopefully slow down the bleeding, he got up and stared straight at the number one hero, XVoid. He stood there in his classic green armor and helmet with a purple visor, two bright purple ovals acting as visible eyes. 

“Didn’t expect to see you here either, XVoid,” Doc seethed smoke coming out of his mouth along with the smell of gunpowder. 

XVoid immediately put up his hands in surrender. “No need for panic. I just needed to see if the new villain was still here,” XVoid tried to explain. “My friends were also attacked you see, and it looks like your’s were too,” XVoid motioned towards Phobos and Moss. “And is that Grimm Dog under your coat?”

Doc seemed to growl and hiss at the same time, getting defensive. XVoid just put his hands up higher. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he squeaked.

“I would recommend you leave,” Doc growled.

“How can you still be intimidating with only sweat pants and crocs?” XVoid whispered to himself as he stood still. 

Doc huffed out more smoke before turning away from the hero. “Look, if you’re not going to do anything just leave,” he stated, trying to situate Grimm in his hold and still hide his face. 

XVoid walked over to the unconscious villains and picked them both up. “Guess I’ll do something then,” he said as he held both of them over his shoulders. “Where to?”

Doc grumbled something, obviously not liking his options much, before deciding to give in. “Better not tell anyone, got it.”

“Cross my heart,” XVoid replied. 

“Follow me,” he said before going down the closest fire escape. Trying to go down a fire escape one handed while carrying someone was definitely harder than it seemed as Doc struggled some on the way down, not wanting to hurt Grimm in the process. 

After a good couple minutes he finally made it to the bottom. “You coming down or what?” 

“Don’t worry I’m coming!” XVoid yelled down. He didn’t even bother using the fire escape, instead coming out of a portal right beside Doc. 

Doc scoffed, “show off.”

“You're just mad you didn’t think about it.”

He held Grimm’s head closer to his shoulder. “Let’s just go,” he said before walking off. 

XVoid followed close behind, silence filling the alleys they were going through. “So, do you know all of what happened?” He asked the villain.

“I got there just before you did,” was all the answer he got. 

“So you know nothing,” XVoid deadpanned. 

“I never said I knew nothing, I have my theories,” Doc grumbled. 

“You have theories but not answers, got it,” XVoid teased, a clear smirk in his voice. 

“You know, if you weren’t holding shortie and emo, I would kick your ass.”

“What would you do with Grimm Dog then?”

“Grimm’ll be fine, I’ll just set him down somewhere.”

XVoid gave Doc a questioning look, or as much of one as he could. “If you wouldn’t mind me asking, why are you helping Grimm Dog? I can understand these two, but why him, I thought you hated him?”

“Has anyone ever told you you ask too many questions?”

“What, it’s a valid question,” XVoid argued. “All anyone has seen you two do is fight each other. So you should understand why I’m curious.”

“It’s not about Grimm,” Doc growled, not bothering to look at the hero. “Now stop asking about it.”

XVoid just nodded his head and silence fell over them once again, this time uncomfortable. 

“We’re here,” Doc said after a good few minutes of walking later, now standing in front of a run down building. 

“This is the place?” XVoid asked confused. 

“Not exactly. We have to go through security first,” Doc answered. “This’ll be fun.”

“What kind of security?” XVoid asked nervously. 

Doc chuckled to himself, “you’ll see.”

“I’m gonna die.”

Entering the building easily, it looked just as rundown on the inside as the outside. Doc walked up to the elevator entrance and put his index finger on the button, the door opening revealing very old wallpaper. “Heroes first,” Doc said, standing to the side of the door. 

XVoid cautiously entered the elevator, Doc entering after before the door closed. He pressed another button, this time with his ring finger, making the elevator go down. 

The speakers kicked in once the ride down started, playing the most horrible elevator music known to mankind. 

XVoid looked over at Doc in horror. “Is this your security!?” He asked, horrified. 

Doc responded with an evil grin, full of teeth, as he watched the hero's sanity crumble. 

“I have to deal with this enough at work now here,” XVoid complained.

“Didn’t know you hated elevator music so much XVoid,” Doc taunted. 

“Shut up, you! You obviously knew or else why add it,” the hero called out. 

“Oh no, you caught me, whatever shall I do,” the villain mocked. 

“Turn it off, that's what.”

“No can do, it’ll only turn off once we reach our desired floor level,” Doc said with an evil grin. “Guess you’ll have to listen to it all the way down.”

“You’re evil.”

“Never claimed to be anything different, oh look we’re here.” The elevator dinged, XVoid bolting out the doors as soon as they opened. “Be careful around the machinery.”

“When we go up, can you please turn the speakers off?” XVoid asked, almost begging. 

“Depends on how I’m feeling, now come on. Medical room is this way.” Doc started walking past and towards the, labeled ‘Medical’, door. 

XVoid followed behind, making sure to dodge the assorted machinery. 

Doc opened the door for the hero, letting him through. “Put them on the beds, I’ll be back.”

“Doesn’t Grimm Dog need medical attention too?” The hero asked, confused. 

“He does but I don’t believe that he would like his identity revealed to a hero without his consent,” Doc answered easily. “So instead I’ll treat him somewhere more private.”

“Even so, it’ll be easier to just do it here, don't you think?”

Silence filled the room for a minute. “I trust you enough to help me with them, but I will not trust you with him,” Doc stated, staring daggers at XVoid. “I’m going to set up a bed for Grimm, I’ll be back.” With that Doc left and headed into his office next door. 

Should he have left the hero alone with the injured villains, probably not, but at the moment he had an unconscious Grimm in his arms wrapped up in a very tattered lab coat. Doc set him down on the couch, a pillow under his head and replacing the coat with a blanket. Color was coming back to Ren’s body, black hair turning brown at the roots and skin looking less pale.

Gently lifting up Ren’s arm, Doc examined the burn marks lining up his arm. “What the hell did this?” Doc whispered to himself as he mentally traced the lightning shaped burns. Definitely needed some burn cream. 

Chapter Text

Being in a villain’s lair and not being held hostage was weird, helping a villain heal his fellow villains even weirder.

But he wasn’t the number one hero for just any reason. He helped people no matter who they were, even if they just so happened to be very well known villains who’ve been known to have a kill count and a crazy vigilante that liked to get into others business. 

So yeah, this whole experience has just raised questions upon questions on what exactly happened. He was only informed of the basics from CuteGuy and he can’t really ask Doctor Goat anything because he got there around the same time he did. 

That was another thing, his weird protectiveness over Grimm Dog. On all recorded accounts they’ve always had a rivalry, with Grimm getting in the way of Doctor Goat and Doctor Goat angrily going after him until he either disappears or straight up leaves. Maybe it’s just the fact Grimm Dog’s disguise was down or maybe something deeper, who knows, but at the moment XVoid was focused on getting Phobos and Moss Boss bandaged up. 

Looking through the drawers and cabinets, he found an assortment of different medical supplies ranging from simple band aids to full on surgical equipment. Doctor Goat came in right as he was grabbing some bandages and gauze. 

“Ok so I looked over Grimm’s injuries, he’ll need some antibiotic ointment but other than that he’ll be fine,” Doctor Goat stated as he walked over to one of the cabinets, pulling out an open jar of burn cream. “Have you looked over their injuries yet?”

“Only Phobos so far, he’ll have to be treated for a concussion and an open injury on the head. Other than that, he has a few bruises and scratches here and there,” XVoid stated, walking over to Phobos with bandages and gauze. 

Doctor Goat walked over to Moss Boss, examining his burns and noticing a slight twitch. “Yeah, man is going to have fun when he wakes up. Litchenberg's figure burns head to toe, slight twitch in the fingers, I think the only thing he’ll enjoy is the free hair job,” Doctor Goat stated, opening up the burn cream. 

“Can you tell what happened based on the burns?” XVoid asked, cleaning up and disinfecting the wound on Phobos’ head. 

“Looks like a shock was used against him. If I had to guess, Moss was being his cocky self and had his opponent trapped using his hybrid ability to hold them down and wrap them in his roots like he usually does,” Doctor Goat explained. “You can also see slight bruising on the ankle, whoever he was going against definitely grabbed there based on the shape of it.”

“So what you're saying is whoever caused all this also has an electricity based ability?”

“Exactly.” Doctor Goat started putting burn cream on Moss Boss’ skin. “He’s lucky to still even be alive, to be honest. He had to have been getting shocked for a good minute or two for it to be like this. Even Grimm didn’t have it this bad.”

XVoid turned to the villain after he finished bandaging Phobos. “Give it here,” XVoid demanded, holding out his hand. 

Doctor Goat looked at him, confused “What?”

“Hand me the jar of burn cream and go deal with Grimm Dog,” he demanded again. “I’m already done with Phobos and you won’t allow me to see Grimm Dog so let me treat Moss Boss.”

Doctor Goat seemed to think it over for a moment before walking over to the hero and handing him the jar. “Thank you,” he said before getting another jar and some other items, just in case, and leaving. 

XVoid let out a sigh once he heard a door close. ‘ That was unexpected ,’ he thought to himself as he walked over to Moss Boss and began to apply the cream. 

—

Doc closed the office door behind him, quickly letting out a sigh of relief once he saw that Ren’s color was all back. Even if he and Grimm were getting along, didn’t mean he wanted to talk to him at that moment. He could talk to Grimm about the best time to use a panic button later. 

Ren started flinching some from the contact he started to reassure that everything was alright, even if Ren was unconscious. Wrapping the bandages was a little harder to do, but not impossible so it was fine. 

What wasn’t fine, though, was the fact that right after he was done Ren shot up and was breathing like he just ran a marathon, ears pinned to the side of his head, eyes wide and pupils dilated. Doc ended up falling back onto the floor from the sudden movement. 

“Ren?” Doc watched in concern and confusion as Ren gripped his shirt, knuckles white. 

“He was there,” Ren muttered to himself, just loud enough for Doc to hear. 

Doc was now thoroughly confused. “Who was there?” 

“Martyn…Martyn was there,” Ren muttered back, taking a big breath to try and calm down. Said breathing did not work. 

Doc scooted closer and put his hand on top of Ren’s hand, the one not gripping his shirt. “You mean Listener?”

“No, not him. Martyn. I heard Martyn,” tears began to form in Ren’s eyes as he went from gripping his shirt to his hair. “Martyn was there, he was there.”

Doc, quickly, grabbed Ren’s wrist with his other hand. “Lets not white knuckle your hair, please,” Doc whispered to himself as he gently pried Ren’s grip on his hair. 

Ren ignored him, seemingly stuck in his head as he kept repeating, “he was there,” over and over, tears now flowing down his cheeks. 

Doc took a deep breath before getting up and situating himself on the couch. “How about we talk about this another time,” he suggested, pulling Ren into a hug and cradling Ren’s head against his shoulder. The two of them stayed like that for a while, with Doc rubbing his thumb gently against Ren’s head sobbing into his shoulder before he eventually went to sleep. 

“You can stop spying on us now,” Doc called out after a few minutes, sounding a little agitated. 

XVoid opened the door, fully, and stood in the doorway. “How did you know I was here?” He asked jokingly. 

“How much did you see?” 

“Not much,” XVoid answered. “Can I come in?”

Doc glared at him for a moment before answering, “fine, but I’m not moving over.”

“I’ll just sit in the desk chair,” XVoid said, sitting and facing Doc. 

“Sooo…who’s ‘he’?” The hero asked, breaking the silence. 

“What do you mean?” Doc asked, suspicious. 

“I heard Grimm Dog repeatedly say ‘he was there’,” The hero explained. “If he knows who the new villain is, maybe we could catch them before they cause more harm.”

“We can’t do that,” Doc said, sternly. 

“Why so?” XVoid asked. “It would ensure that everyone, on all sides, were safe. This new villain has shown that they can and will fight against whoever is in their way, so it’s only logical to figure out who it is before they can hurt anyone else,” the hero explained, confused as to why Doc was disagreeing. 

“Because, unlike a lot of the heroes and villains, Grimm knew who they were before becoming a villain,” Doc started to explain, getting a little annoyed with the hero in front of him. “Besides, the only way I could see anyone catching this villain is with some sort of elaborate plan, some very well built gear, and a number of powerful people.”

“Have you ever met them?”

“Yes. Last time we met he held me by the throat,” Doc stated, casually. “Then while I was on the ground trying to recover, he stabbed my best friend and left him to die. So you can imagine how much of a grudge I have against him.”

XVoid just stared at him, digital eyes shrunken in shock. “My friend is still alive if you’re wondering, managed to get them to Moss Boss.”

“Oh thank void,” XVoid exhaled, digital eyes more relaxed. 

“Yeah imagine how I felt,” Doc said, off-handedly. Ren grunted and started to move some in Doc’s arms, lifting his head up sleepily. 

“Do-“ Ren‘s mouth was immediately covered by Doc’s metal hand. Ren bit his hand but immediately regretted it, covering his mouth in pain. “What the hell dude!”

“Well I’m sorry I don’t want my name shared to a hero,” Doc argued. “Also why would you try to bite metal?”

“Why would you use your metal hand! Wait a hero?” Ren turned and looked at XVoid. The two of them stared at each other for a hot minute before XVoid decided to wave. 

Doc sighed in defeat. “Well there goes me trying to hide your face from the number one hero.”

Ren hid his face back on Doc's shoulder. “Dang it.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I still don’t know your name,” XVoid said, trying to make Ren feel better. 

Ren’s ears immediately perked up and he looked back at the hero. “You don’t?”

“Nope,” XVoid confirmed. 

“HAHAH! I’m not totally screwed!” Ren celebrated, arms almost hitting Doc in the face. His balance started to tip fast afterwards, Doc catching him by the shirt. 

“Please be careful,” Doc said with a sigh. 

“You know I won’t be, Goaty,” Ren replied with a smile. “Now please let me go.” Doc let go of his shirt and Ren hit the floor, face first, with a thud. “What was that for?”

“Don’t call me ‘Goaty’.”

“You told me not to use your name,” Ren mumbled through the floor. 

“That doesn’t mean you can call me that.”

“You told him not to use your name,” XVoid chimed in. “There was nothing there saying he couldn’t call you ‘Goaty’.”

“HA,” Ren lifted himself up and pointed a finger toward Doc. “Even the hero agrees with me.”

“Call me that again and see what happens,” Doc threatened with a snarl, gunpowder smoke coming out of his mouth. 

Ren squeaked and ran behind XVoid, holding onto the back of his chair. “Save me, XVoid, from the croc wearing villain,” Ren dramatically begged. “I am but a humble citizen just trying to live my life.”

Both XVoid and Doc gave Ren an accusatory look, with Ren just looking back at them confused. “Did I say something wrong?”

“You are the farthest thing from a humble citizen,” XVoid deadpanned. 

“Ok so I might not be humble, in a sense, but I’m still a citizen.”

“Dude, what he’s trying to say is that you’re a vigilante,” Doc explained, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Oh…” Ren’s confused expression changed to pensive in a matter of seconds, “yeah, I forgot about that.”

“You ok, Grimm?” XVoid asked, both him and Doc looking at him with concern. 

“I’m fine, just need to go do something real quick,” Ren said, getting off the floor and heading towards the office door. “I’ll be back.” With that Ren left the room, shutting the door behind him. 

XVoid looked back towards Doc, confused. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“No clue,” Doc answered, getting off the couch. “But I’m gonna pull a you and eavesdrop.”

“What do you mean by that?” XVoid asked incredulously, Doc raising an eyebrow at that. “Oh never mind, I’ll stay here.”

“Good.” Doc turned to leave the room. 

“Wait before you go. Once the thing with Grimm is sorted out, could you ask him if he’s willing to answer some questions?”

“And if he says no?”

“I’ll respect his decision. Just want to know his side of the story while I have the chance,” the hero explained. 

“Fine, but if he refuses to answer anything you better just leave it.”

“I will.”

“Good,” Doc said before leaving his office. 

—

The sound of thudding could be heard throughout the arcade, as a pixelated character ran into the screen multiple times trying to get out of the game cabinet. 

“Come on,” the character said, now trying to push the screen, before ultimately giving up and flopping onto his back. 

“What did I do to deserve this?” He questioned, looking up at his pitch black surroundings. A memory came rushing to the front of his thoughts at that moment. “Nevermind, I definitely deserve this.”

Silence filled the void he was surrounded in as the character thought of a time before this. 

“I wonder if he’s better off now that I’m gone,” he said with a sad smile, before letting the silence take over once again.

Chapter Text

“I don’t understand why you’re so mad about this.”

“I’m mad because you almost killed him!”

Ren was pacing back and forth in the corner of Doc’s workshop, and behind one of his bigger projects. He certainly looked crazy from the outside, yelling at someone in his head, but he didn’t care. 

“I did what I had to do to keep us alive,” Grimm argued, sounding annoyed. 

“But you didn’t have to hit him off the roof! That shit hurts!” Ren exclaimed.

“And how would you know?” Grimm taunted. 

“You really need to ask that,” Ren deadpanned. 

“Right, sorry, but I still think I did the right thing.”

“You say that, but what if he actually died?”

“Then he’s gone and not trying to kill people,” Grimm mentally shrugged. 

“Martyn is still in there, though! What if this is some sort of mind control situation,” Ren argued back. 

“Then that’s his problem, not ours,” Grimm explained, sounding more annoyed the longer this conversation goes on. “Besides, I don’t think there’s any way we can save him.”

“Shut up,” Ren seethed. 

“I’m just telling you the truth of the situation,” Grimm said. 

“Shut up,” Ren said, a little louder than before. 

“Martyn’s dead and all you are left with is a villain who wants you dead with him.”

“SHUT UP!” Ren banged his head and fists against the nearest wall, tears falling down his face. “Just…shut up,” he pleaded, falling to his knees. Footsteps came closer, Ren not bothering to look who it was. 

“May I?” Doc asked, not waiting for an answer as he sat down on the ground and leant against the wall. Ren stayed silent as Doc got situated. “So, talk to me, what’s going on?”

“Everything,” Ren answered, bringing his arms down and hugging himself. 

“Explain,” Doc prodded, lightly. 

“Everything has been going downhill ever since Listener appeared. I’m suddenly hit in the face with ‘hey maybe your dead best friend, who has been dead for years, is now back and wants you dead’ and I’m on someone’s hit list,” Ren explained, hysterically. “Now I see him again, through Grimm’s eyes, and see him just get hit like a golf ball off a building. All the while the only thing I can think about is the way his tone shifted throughout the fight to one that’s so similar to Martyn’s but not and it’s driving me crazy.” 

Tears hit the ground as Ren’s cry turns more into a sob, Ren gripping tighter to his arms. “Maybe, Grimm is right, but there has to be a way to save him, right?”

“Not likely,” Doc deadpanned, looking up at the ceiling. 

Ren looked over at Doc, red rimmed and teary eyes looking at him dumbfounded. “Why?”

“Hey now, I said, not likely. I never said anything about it not being possible,” Doc explained. “If you said that you heard a tone shift, maybe there’s a chance of mind control being at play.”

“So you’re saying there’s a chance we could—“

“Absolutely,” Doc interrupted, looking over at Ren with a smile. “You have an evil scientist as a best friend, why not use that to your benefit.”

Ren’s frown grows into a large toothy grin. He tackled Doc into a hug, making him grunt, laughing and sobbing at the same time. “Thank you so much,” Ren said through his tears.

Doc sighed but continued to smile down at his stupid but loveable best friend. “Not a problem.”

Ren wiped away the tears on his face and looked at Doc. “Shouldn’t  we go back to XVoid?”

“Oh yeah, XVoid. He wanted to ask you some questions about what happened,” Doc explained. “Don’t feel pressured to do so though, he said you didn’t have to if you didn’t want to.”

“Oh, ok.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely, dude. Besides, if he starts pushing I can always call on you to beat him up for me,” Ren said too cheerfully for what he suggested. 

“Absolutely,” Doc agreed, before pushing at Ren. “Now get up, you're crushing me.”

“Oh, oops,” Ren got up and held out a hand. “Sorry about that.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Doc waved off, taking Ren’s hand and getting up as well. Together they headed back towards the office to meet up with the hero again. 

— 

Ok, maybe he should have seen this coming. 

He had accepted XVoid’s request for an interview, what no one had mentioned though was that it had to be a private one. So now Doc was waiting on the other side of a closed door, to his own office ironically, and Ren was sitting on the couch across from XVoid who was doing final preparations. 

“So, XVoid…”

XVoid hummed in acknowledgment. 

“What exactly are you preparing over there?” Ren asked, looking at the purple holographic screens. 

“Oh, sorry, I should explain. I’ll be recording the interview, voice only of course, and I’m making sure everything is working before we properly start,” XVoid explained, tapping some more buttons on the screen. 

“You’re recording this!?” Ren exclaimed. 

“Yes. Don’t worry though, I’ll alter your voice before I show.”

“You will?” Ren asked, skeptical. 

“Of course I will, I’m not a psycho!” XVoid exclaimed, incredulously. “Now, Grimm Dog, before we start, do you have anything you want to ask or set any boundaries beforehand?”

“Please don’t call me Grimm during the interview,” Ren said. 

“Why so, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Let’s just say it’s personal and move on. Just call me Mr.Dog if you need to address me in any way.”

“Alright, anything else?”

“Only that you stay true to your word and allow me to skip any questions I’m not comfortable with,” Ren answered, easily. 

“Alright let’s start.” XVoid hit, what Ren assumed to be, the record button. “So, Mr.Dog, you were at the scene of the attack, correct?”

“Yes,” Ren answered. 

“What was the first thing you saw when you got there?” XVoid asked. 

“I caught HotGuy and CuteGuy before they fell to their demise, so that was what I saw first,” Grimm answered 

“When I first got there, I saw HotGuy and CuteGuy falling from the roof of the building. I managed to catch them in time before they could get seriously hurt,” Ren answered, repeating Grimm’s answer. ‘Not now, please,’ Ren thought/told Grimm. 

“Do you know who threw them off?” XVoid asked. 

“The bitch, Listener, that’s who.”

“A new villain that appeared recently, calling himself Listener.” 

“Were there any other villains there helping him?”

“Of course not, Mossy Boy and Fear Man are too cool to help him.”

“No, the only other villains there were Moss Boss and Phobos and they were unconscious and injured,” Ren answered, concealing his annoyance. 

“So this new villain, Listener, he attacked other villains?”

“Yes.”

“Almost did more than that if it wasn’t for me.”

“Interesting,” XVoid thought for a moment. “Am I allowed to know about anything prior to the event in question?”

“Depends.”

“Have you encountered Listener before this incident?”

“Yes, twice.”

“Could you explain what happened?”

“He left us for dead twice.”

“First time I was protecting a citizen, second time I was protecting myself as a civilian.”

“So he’s been attacking civilians before he made an attempt at the heroes?”

“Guess so, told me of a list and that he was following orders.”

“So he’s working under someone, or a hitman maybe?”

“Could be,” Ren said. 

“Back to the incident, what happened once on the roof? Did you two end up fighting?”

“Yes we…” Ren hesitated. He technically didn’t do anything, but trying to describe what Grimm did like he himself did it…he literally just got out of an argument about this situation. 

“Alright you're taking too long to explain,” Grimm said. Before Ren could say anything, he felt himself slip back into his mind and was now watching. His eyes now gray instead of their normal blue. 

“We fought, got him a few good times with the scythe,” Grimm started to explain, motioning his hands every which way. “He had his daggers to protect him though, pretty dang good with those things let me tell ya. I ended up pushing him towards the edge, yelling out ‘FORE’,” Grimm swung his arms like he had a club in his hands. “Ended up hitting him, but he had a trick card up his sleeve. Asshole decided then was a good time to introduce me to his ability and shocked me real good. To bad for him though I’ve dealt with worse and knocked him into the nearest alle—“ 

His own hand covered his mouth. Ren’s blue eyes came back as he gained back control, said eyes wide and ears drooped in shock at what just happened. He looked up at XVoid, mouth still covered. 

XVoid paused the recording. “Guessing that was Grimm Dog?”

Ren nodded, looking down at the ground like a sad puppy. 

“You can uncover your mouth now,” XVoid joked, with a small laugh. 

“Sorry,” Ren said, once he uncovered his mouth. “Me and Mr.Petty there had an argument about something retaining to that specific topic just minutes prior. He’s probably still mad about it, considering he’s been annoying me almost this whole time.”

“Can I ask what it was about?”

“Don’t record this part and keep it to yourself, got it. I’m not afraid to call in my crazy scientist roommate in here to get you,” Ren threatened. “Better yet,” Ren summoned his axeblade and sat it to the side for easy reach, “I could do it myself if I have to.”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” XVoid reassured, hands in the air. 

“Good now put your arms down and listen.”

XVoid put his arms in his lap. 

“Great, I’m only saying this once and I’m not taking any more questions,” Ren started. “Listener used to be a friend of mine before the whole villain and vigilante thing. Friend died due to one of the last Watcher attacks a few years back, his body disappearing afterwards. Now he’s back with an ability and other traits that weren’t there before his supposed death.” Ren took a deep breath before explaining again. “He might be being mind controlled so he could be just a civilian, so keep that in mind for me.”

“I will, thank you for your time,” XVoid said, getting up from his seat and heading towards the door. “Hope we will meet under better circumstances next time.”

“Same, now goodnight.” Ren unsummoned his axeblade, grabbing a blanket from on top of the couch, and curled up on the couch. He was out cold before the hero could say anything back. 

“So how did it go?” Doc asked once XVoid came out. 

“Eventful but good,” XVoid replied. “I think I’ll be taking my leave now, if you’ll let me.”

“Be my guest,” Doc walked XVoid back to the elevator, pressing the button to open the door, and let him in. “Don’t worry about the elevator music on the way up.”

“Wait.”” XVoid gave Doc a look of betrayal as the music started playing. “CMON, REALLY!” Doc could hear him yell at him as the elevator went up. 

“Have a nice trip,” he laughed to himself as he walked to his office. 

Quietly he grabbed some of the few extra blankets and pillows from beside the couch and made himself his own place to sleep. 

—

“Three…two…one…NOW!”

The man punched the punching bag with his bare fist, leaving a hole through it. 

“Good, good,” the masked figure congratulated before pulling the man away to look towards them, blank purple eyes looking up at them. “Now why won’t you use your little ability to help me with my goal little listener?”

“I do,” the man answered, no emotion behind his voice. 

“Good now, be a good listener and keep training, can’t have you embarrassing me when I come back,” they order, turning and exiting the room. 

“Yes my watcher,” he bows before going back to training. 

Very obedient. 

Chapter Text

“Do you have to do this,” Etho groaned. 

He was sat up in the bed, his Phobos mask set to the side and his precautionary face mask bundled around his neck revealing a long scar starting from his chin and thinning out towards the eyebrow. 

“Yes we do,” Doc replied. “I know that you’re uncomfortable, but you’ll live. I’m almost done anyway.” Doc got done replacing Etho’s head bandage and backed away. “There, I’m done. Are you happy now?”

“Greatly,” Etho said sarcastically, bringing back up the face mask. “How’s Bdubs?”

“Could be better. With the amount of burns on his skin, plus the probable minor nerve injury, would take about six to eight weeks to recover fully,” Doc answered looking over at Bdubs, who was still in his villain costume. 

“How long until he wakes up?” Etho asked, his attention on Bdubs. 

“That I don’t know.” Doc grabbed the leftover bandages and gauze and put them back in their places. “Managed to replace all his bandages without waking him up. Ended up putting in an IV when he didn’t respond to the usual shoulder nudge.”

Etho watched as Bdubs’ chest rose and fell with every breath, then up to the streak of white hair. “He was getting shocked for what felt like forever,” Etho said, thinking back on the events of last night. 

“It’ll feel like that sometimes. Luckily though he wasn’t shocked that long and it looks like the voltage was only high enough to cause injuries and little damage, it only would’ve killed if it lasted a good few minutes longer,” Doc explained. 

“Has anyone told you you're a great motivator,” Etho said sarcastically as he gave Doc a deadpan stare. 

“Thank you,” Doc said. “I hope that you know that your health is in my hands.”

“Oh I know,” Etho replied, smirk obvious in his voice. 

“Then be grateful I’m not throwing you out in the streets.”

Etho rolled his eyes. “Fiiine, I’m grateful for your support.”

“Thank you.” Doc ruffled Etho’s hair on his way towards a closet door. “Now I’m going to give you a laptop and hook a heart monitor to Bdubs before I head out.”

“Where are you going?” Etho asked. 

“Going to try and unstress Ren with a day out,” Doc explained, grabbing the heart monitor. “Unlike the two of you he can still stand up straight.” He walked back over towards Bdubs and started setting it up. 

“Ren’s here?”

“Yes, thank Grimm for that,” Doc answered. 

“Grimm’s a weird one,” Etho said, without any real explanation. 

“Yeah, definitely agree,” Doc said with a nod, starting to finish up with the heart monitor. 

“No, like, he’s weird in the fact he can confuse a boogeyman,” Etho stated. “I can look at him and see his greatest fear is vex, but if I use my illusion on him he just gets angered or annoyed.”

“Hm, that seems familiar,” Doc thought out loud. Thinking back, hadn’t that been a part of how Ren got the both of them netherite charmed necklaces. 

“Yeah, he’s the definition of ‘fight’ in ‘fight or flight.’,” Etho laughed. 

“Makes sense considering who he is,” Doc said, finishing the heart monitor setup. “Anyway I’m going to get that laptop for you, need anything else before I leave?”

“Nope, but could you bring me snacks when you come back?” Etho asked. 

“Depends, can you say the magic word?” Doc asked back, a mischievous smirk on his face. 

“Why do you do this to me?” Etho groaned. 

“Because I can, now say it or else no snacks.”

“Alright, ‘the magic word.’”

“That’ll work,” Doc said with a shrug. “I’ll be back with the laptop.”

“Thank you,” Etho said before Doc left the room. 

“Not a problem.”

—

“So I can go wherever I want?” Ren asked. 

They had made a pit stop at the apartment so Doc could get his disguise ring and some proper clothes on. 

“That’s what I said,” Doc answered, coming out of his room in a basic hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. 

Ren’s tail started wagging faster as he thought of the perfect place. “Let’s go to Hill’s Arcade then.”

“Alright,” Doc said as he walked past Ren and started out the door. 

Ren ran out in excitement, almost running over Doc. Doc ended up having to close the door and had to run to catch up. “Wait up!” He yelled out, almost regretting his decision (not really).

—

He’s learned four things since gaining consciousness. 

Number one: he was in a game cabinet. 

Number two: the black void he was in, yeah that was when the game cabinet was off. When on he’s thrown into the world of the game, more specifically the title screen.

Number three: he was the main character of the game. Being controlled by a player was definitely a weird feeling. 

Number four: he was at Hill’s Arcade. Based on what he could see from his cabinet, the inside of the arcade looked the same as ever. So was the owner, but that guy was a whole other level of weird that he couldn’t handle at the moment. 

Now all he had to do was figure out how to get out of here. It was cool being a pixelated character in your favorite game but he wanted to go home. 

A honk came from the entrance as some people came in. One of them had green freckles scattered across his skin, horns, black slicked back hair, and was freakishly tall and fit ( ‘show off >:(‘ ). The other was a wolf hybrid, brown hair tied back in a low ponytail with some sticking out in the front, sunglasses covering his eyes— wait a second, he knows those glasses. 

“Ren?”

Chapter Text

“Ren?”

The wolf hybrid turned his head to look, only seeing some people walking around and an assortment of game cabinets. He shrugged and went back to his friend who was talking with the owner about getting tokens. 

Martyn let out an exaggerated breath of relief before making sure no one saw him. He hadn’t been awake (is that the right word?) that long, but if someone notices something not quite right they’ll tell Joe. They tell Joe, he’ll come look and if Joe comes to look he has to put up an even bigger act. If he shows any sign of being broken he’ll probably end up in a dump, and he really doesn’t want to be there.

Good news, though, that was definitely Ren. 

So yeah, now Martyn is stuck in a predicament of wanting to get closer to Ren to get his attention without causing a scene. 

He mentally face palmed himself as he realized. If he were to get Ren’s attention, Ren would announce it to the whole arcade. Not only that, he knew nothing about Ren’s new friend. For all he knew, they could be just as loud. 

Another thing, who the hell was this guy! 

He’s gone for, probably, a few days at best and he’s already been replaced by someone who looks like a hoodie wearing thug. No he wasn’t jealous, he was just looking out for his best friend. 

Martyn shook his head, getting back on track. He had to find a way to get closer. 

“Think, how can I get over there?” He thought to himself. Looking around, all he could, seeing all the people and other game cabinets. “I wonder…” looking over towards the prize counter, there was a game not too far from it. Closing his eyes and focusing on the game. “Come on, please work.”

A small green flash and he was in a different scene. Martyn looked around and saw water, tons of water. He was also sitting in a boat holding a fishing rod. “What the hell,” Martyn said to himself as he looked down at his new attire, he looked like a pirate. 

“It was good talking with you again Mr.Hills,” Ren said, waving and holding a cup full of coins. 

“Same with you, Ren. Have fun you two,” Mr.Hills waved back, watching Ren and the new guy walk off. 

“So, you know this place better than I do, what’s a good first game?” New guy asked. Guess this was his first trip here, if he was experienced then he would know that Ren will always choose ‘Fishing Pirates’. 

Wait…SHIT!

Martyn was in the game they were heading to. Quickly getting in position of the player character, he watched Ren and Newbie come over. 

“This is the best starting game,” Ren said. If Martyn remembered correctly, Ren said the same thing to him with a small explanation of why. “It’s a great wake up to get your mind ready for everything else,” Ren explained, sitting in the player’s seat. 

“If you say so,” Newbie laughed out. This dude was definitely some sort of delinquent, probably stole candy from babies at some point. 

“Just trust me on this.” Ren inserted a token and pressed ‘start’. 

A weird feeling coursed through Martyn as he lost control of his limbs. He casted the fishing rod and started reeling when Ren did. Ren ended up catching a good load of points once the game was over. 

“I’d like to see you beat that,” Ren challenged, getting up and pointing at his score. 

Newbie cracked his knuckles and sat down where Ren was and held the reel. “You’re on.”

That same feeling from earlier came around and soon enough, Martyn was back to fishing like a mad man. Martyn was lucky he was a game character at the moment, if he was out catching fish like he was in real life he would be passed out on the boat soon after. 

“Beat it,” Newbie said with a smirk. 

“How?!” Ren said, mouth agape as he saw the score. 

“Skill,” Newbie replied, getting up.

“Smartass,” Martyn thought to himself as he watched their interaction. 

“Where to next?” Newbie asked, looking over the games. 

“Well since you won, you get to choose the next one,” Ren answered, arms crossed. “Just know that whatever game you pick I’ll beat you in.”

“We’ll see about that.” Newbie looks over the games again and points to one somewhere behind the game Martyn was currently in. “How about that one?”

“Oh…umm… how about a different one?” Ren asked kind of nervously. 

Newbie’s smirk grew. “Oh we’re definitely doing it.”

“Fiiine, after you then,” Ren said dramatically gesturing towards said game. Ren watched as Newbie left towards the game, a smirk on his face as he watched. 

“Ohoho, I know what game this is.” Martyn did a zappy zap over to ‘Dance Rat Revolution’. His appearance changed again, this time to a cartoony rat dressed in a white shirt and green pants. The game itself had two dance pads and had a two-player option. 

Ren and Newbie showed up shortly after, getting into position and slotting in a token. Newbie looked through the songs, stopping on a specific one. 

“Why is there a Christmas song in here?” Newbie asked, looking at the song ‘Secret Santa’. 

“I do not know,” Ren answered simply, grinning. 

“Well we’re playing it.” Newbie pressed select and got into position. 

“Oh this is gonna be good,” Martyn laughed to himself as the screen faded to black. “Wait…oh come on!” Once the screen faded into the Christmasy landscape Martyn subtly looked down at his apparel. He was now dressed in a red sleeveless dress with white fluff around the neck and bottom, fishnet stockings, black heels, and a fake Santa beard. 

“Aww little dude is in a Santa cosplay,” Ren cooed, watching as Martyn dusted off the dress and got ready to dance. How he was going to dance in heels, well that was for the game to decide. 

“He is quite adorable,” Newbie agreed. 

“Ren has a pass, you do not. Back off,” Martyn thought. A microphone appeared in his hand and he spoke, “Game starts in three…two…one… BEGIN!” 

The game started. Arrows appeared on both sides of the screen, Martyn in the middle of them singing and dancing. 

Ren and Newbie weren’t paying any attention to him though, more focused on beating each other. Newbie was hitting the arrows when they came, missing one or two here and there. Ren, on the other hand, was dancing like nobody was watching and somehow hitting all the arrows. 

“PLAYER TWO WINS!!” Martyn announced once the song was over. 

“How did you beat me!?” Newbie exclaimed looking at the point difference. 

“Skill, now come on. There’s more games to play,” Ren said, running over to a different game. 

“You show him bud.”

—

Martyn had now probably been in every game cabinet there was in this arcade. Maybe one shouldn’t be zipping and zapping around so often, he was starting to feel exhausted. He had watched as Ren and Newbie went from game to game, winning and losing back and forth to each other. 

Martyn wasn’t the jealous type…but he was totally jealous. 

Watching as Ren hung out with the new guy he could tell that Ren was having fun, was happy. They used to have fun together once, heck, they used to just be happy when around each other. Now he’s just watching from the sidelines as Ren hangs out with someone else, someone better. 

Martyn ended up back in ‘Defend The Castle’, watching the duo come over to his game. 

“I saved the best for last, baby,” Ren said, in his normal dramatics. “Wanna go first, my good sir.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Newbie answered, stepping up to the cabinet and inserting a token. 

“The horde is coming, get ready to fire,” Martyn said, repeating the game dialogue. He stood at the top of the castle’s walls, bow and arrow in hand ready to shoot. 

Newbie played the game, Martyn shot at the opposing monster horde. Each wave of monsters was bigger and more difficult than the last, some coming close enough to hit the castle and cause damage. 

Newbie getting closer to the end and Martyn’s jealousy got the best of him. Somehow or another Martyn sent a tiny shock towards Newbie’s hands, causing him to jump a bit. While that happened an enemy got past him and managed to take the last of the castle’s hp, ‘Game Over’ appearing on the screen. 

Newbie muttered something to himself as he looked at the game, Martyn looking back at him with a smirk. He didn’t care about getting ratted out, what he just did felt satisfying to him. 

“You ok, Doc?” Ren asked, concerned. Why was he concerned? Newbie was obviously fine, it was just a tiny shock after all. Well at least now he knew the name of this person now. 

“I’m fine,” Doc replied. “Let’s see if you can beat my score, shall we?”

“Of course I’ll beat you,” Ren said, slipping in a token. 

Ren ended up winning the game with only half hp left. Martyn really wasn’t expecting any less though from how much he played the game when it was just the two of them together. Maybe he should just risk it and tell Ren what was going o—

“Hey, Ren, I think Joe is trying to get your attention,” Doc stated, looking over towards Joe Hills who was in fact trying to get Ren’s attention. 

“Oh shoot, I’ll be back,” Ren said before running off. 

“I’ll probably just end up joining you,” Doc said to himself as he watched Ren run over to Joe. Doc turned back to look at the character on screen, staring straight at Martyn. “You think you’re clever, don’t you?”

Martyn swore if he could sweat he’d be sweating buckets with how terrified he was. Who was this guy and why is he hanging out with Ren?

Doc walked up and put a finger on the screen, snarl on his face as he looked down at Martyn. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do here but I swear if you try to hurt him I will pull your power plug you got me,” Doc threatened, watching as Martyn broke character and stared back. 

“Why would I ever harm Ren, if I’m gonna harm anyone it would be you,” Martyn snapped back, standing his ground. 

Doc gave him a confused look now. “Explain.”

“Ren’s my best friend, and I’m not letting some no good delinquent take my place,” Martyn explained, anger and jealousy obvious in his tone. 

Doc hummed. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Martyn, Ren’s best friend and hand.”

“Welp, I looks like I know what my next project will be,” Doc states, backing off of the game cabinet. 

“And what’s that gonna be?” Martyn asked, annoyed. 

“Getting you out of here that’s what,” Doc answered easily. “I’ll probably be back here tonight so be on the lookout. Until then though, goodbye.” Doc waved as he went to join back with Ren leaving Martyn just confused. 

“What the hell just happened?”

Chapter Text

This was definitely one of Doc’s weirder projects. 

He stood in his full villain outfit in front of Hill’s Arcade, laptop and cord in hand. For some reason the door wasn’t locked but it made his job easier so he didn’t mind, casually walking in. 

The redstone wires of the prosthetic and robotic eye glowed a faint red in the dark of the arcade, reflecting off the screens he passed. Stopping in front of ‘Defend The Castle’, he knelt down and reached behind it. If his research was correct there should be a switch back there to manually turn it on. 

“ There you are,” Doc muttered to himself as he found and flipped the switch, shocking him in the process. “Scheiße!”

“Who the hell is here?” Martyn asked, fist up. The screen lit up bright in the dark arcade. 

“It’s just me,” Doc responded, shaking out his hand and standing up to face Martyn. “Did you have to shock me?”

“Yes, it’s a security precautio— who the hell are you!?” Martyn exclaimed, jumping back some in the title screen. 

“Like I said it’s me, the same dude who agreed to get you out of here,” Doc explained. 

“The person I talked to wasn’t completely green and part cyborg,” Martyn protested. 

Doc ran a hand down his face and sighed. “That was because I had on a disguise. Can’t really be going outside looking like this.”

“I can definitely see why,” Martyn agreed, looking him up and down. “Look like one of those people who experimented with themselves way too much in movies.”

“Eh, I’ve heard worst things.”

“Did you really have to come shirtless though?”

“To keep with the mad scientist theme, yes,” Doc answered, going back down. He unplugged one of the surrounding game cabinets and replaced it with his own plug, inserting it into his laptop. 

“Keep up with the theme? Are you a villain, if so why are you hanging around Ren?” Martyn asked, starting to interrogate Doc. 

“Yes, I’m a villain and Ren’s my roommate,” Doc answered easily. He had started typing lines of code into his laptop. 

“And does he know about this?” Martyn asked, almost yelling. 

“Yes. Didn’t have a disguise ready in time for the whole meetup thing and really didn’t want to go through the hassle of trying to keep it a secret,” Doc explained, laughing to himself. Thinking back, Ren had managed to keep Grimm a secret for a while, so maybe it wouldn’t have been that hard. 

“And he’s ok with this?”

“He wouldn’t be living with me if he wasn’t.”

“Oh void, what have you gotten yourself into,” Martyn groaned. 

“You got a problem?” Doc asked, curious on what Martyn would reply with. 

“Yes, I have a problem!” Martyn yelled. “Ren is hanging out with a villain, which in and of itself is dangerous, and is apparently living with one too!”

“Well maybe said villain is trying to keep him safe,” Doc retorted, slightly annoyed but understanding what Martyn was getting at. 

“Sure you are.” Doc could hear the eye roll. “Next thing you know he’s getting involved in your dealings and being interrogated,” Martyn argued.

“He’s not involved in any of my trades and I don’t plan on letting him get involved either,” Doc stated. 

“Then what happened to his arms?” Martyn asked, concerned anger heard in his voice. Doc ended up staying silent. “Yeah, don’t think I didn’t notice the bandages going up past his elbows.”

“I would recommend you shut up before I end up leaving your ass here,” Doc threatened. 

“Well I’m sorry that I’m concerned for my best friend’s wellbeing!” Martyn yelled. “I’ve been stuck, for I don’t know how long, in a game I used to play as the main player character. Then I find out that my best friend has just gone and replaced me with some up and coming villain,” he ranted, voice wavering. “I never even got the chance to apologize.” 

Doc could hear a sniffle come from the cabinet. Scooting back and situating himself some to see the screen, he saw Martyn hugging his knees to his chest and wiping away tears from his face. 

“You’ll be able to apologize soon, for whatever you need to apologize for,” Doc told him, then immediately got caught on to something Martyn said. “Wait, ‘up and coming villain’?”

“That’s what you get caught up on?”

“No no, that’s not what I’m getting at,” Doc explained, shaking his head. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m not new. I’ve been a well-known supervillain for a good few years now.”

Martyn rolled his eyes. “Well I don’t know you so you’re obviously not ‘well-known’ by everyone.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to tell you,” Doc said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, how long do you think you’ve been in there?”

“Week or two maybe,” Martyn answered. 

“Martyn, I need you to listen and listen to me well, no freaking out,” Doc told him. “You’ve been gone for way more than two weeks.”

“How long then?”

“Well, according to a news article I read a while back, around nine or ten years,” Doc answered. 

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” 

“Told you not to freak out.”

“How the hell do I not freak out!” Martyn started to laugh hysterically, pixelated tears falling down his face. “I’ve been gone for ten fucking years and I’m just supposed to except that.”

Doc shrugged. “Kinda.”

“We’re people even looking for me?”

“Probably not considering that everyone thought you died.”

“Great, just great.”

“Well good news is you're not so there’s still a chance to get you back into your own body.”

“Yeah what he said,” Doc said, pointing a thumb behind himself before he could realize. “Scheisse.”

Joe chuckled behind him. “Didn’t expect to see the supervillain Doctor Goat trying to hack into one of my arcade games.”

“And if I was, what would you do about it?” Doc jokingly asked. 

“Oh I could do a lot of things,” Joe said. Doc was suddenly pinned to the ground, wrapped in some sort of bright neon green rope. Joe's eyes glowed that same neon green, hair floating and flowing with a ghostly aura. “Now how about you start explaining.”

Chapter Text

“Now how about you start explaining.”

Doc tried to struggle against Joe’s magic rope thingy, it somehow getting tighter in the process. Joe tutted, shaking her head. “One does not simply struggle out of my magic.” So it was magic. “Keep doing that and it might just crush your bones, either that or you suffocate. I wouldn’t know I’m not a doctor,” Joe laughed out. 

“It’s none of your business what I’m doing, so let go,” Doc demanded, voice strained. He groaned in pain as the ropes got slightly tighter, feeling like they were cutting into his flesh. 

“You are one stubborn goat.” Joe said as he knelt beside Doc’s head. “You could end this any time, you know. All you have to do is tell me what you were doing and the ropes will go away.”

“He was trying to get me out of here that’s what,” Martyn piped up. He wiped away the remaining tears with his arm and stared straight at Joe. “Now let him go.”

“Alright,” Joe said with a shrug and smile. Doc let out a breath of relief as the ropes disappeared. “That wasn’t hard, was it?”

“That actually worked,” Martyn said, sounding exhausted. “Remind me never to piss off Joe.”

Doc gave a thumbs up, still on the ground. “Noted.”

“Aw come on, it wasn’t that bad. It was just a little squeeze.” Joe was back to look like their average self, no more glowing eyes or ghostly hair. 

“Little my ass,” Doc muttered to himself. 

“Sorry bout that, just had to make sure nothing sketchy was going on,” Joe explained. “Didn’t want to risk waking up an unawakened soul, especially his. Turns out though he already woke up so it’s fine.”

Martyn looked at Joe, questioningly. “What do you mean by ‘unawakened soul’?”

“And why specifically his?” Doc asked. 

“That was just uncalled for,” Martyn scolded, wishing he wasn’t a game character. He wanted to smack Doc upside the head, so badly. 

“You already know why, Doc,” Joe said, with a smile on his face as if he didn’t just call a villain by name. “And to answer your question, Martyn, an unawakened soul is just what it sounds like plus some.”

“Ooook, could you please explain the ‘plus some’ portion?”

“Since you asked, of course I can.” Joe was getting more confusing by the second. “Unawakened souls stay in a sleep-like state in objects that correlate to their life in some way shape or form before they almost meet their demise,” she calmly explained. “I know from past experiences and research that this type of thing doesn’t happen often. It only ever really happens if fate decides that you died too early, giving you almost a second chance at life if you were to be able to get back with your body.”

“And if the soul wakes up?” 

“That just means that something happened with your body close by. Friend of mine described it as ‘like an alarm clock you set for something important’.” 

“So what you're saying is that Martyn still has a chance of getting his own body back?” Doc asked. 

“Of course,” Joe answered. “Now I’m going to enjoy a nice cup of sweet tea while you two work on getting him out of the cabinet, buh bye.” With that Joe left. 

“Is he always like this?” Doc asked, looking towards Martyn. 

“Always weird, never creepy,” Martyn replied back. 

Doc got up and tapped a few more buttons on his laptop before looking back over at Martyn. “Ok well laptop is ready for you to transfer into it.”

“Finally, what was taking so long?”

“Do you want to go against my virus protection?” Martyn stayed silent at that. “That’s what I thought, now come through already.”

A green flash came from the cabinet’s screen, a small ball of light the same color traveled through the wires and into Doc’s laptop. Martyn popped up in a similar green flash, now dressed in a more cyberpunk style. “Ooo I look cool in here,” Martyn said, examining his new wardrobe. 

“Good, now that you’re in there we can finally leave,” Doc stated, unplugging the cord from his laptop and gathering it up. 

“Where are we heading to anyway?” Martyn asked. Doc was surprised he didn’t ask sooner. 

“Taking you with me to my workshop,” Doc answered easily, picking up his laptop and standing up. 

“And why the workshop, going to experiment on me or something?”

“No actually, just have some patients I need to look after there at the moment.” Doc walked over to the door, stopping before giving Martyn a warning, “the laptop will turn off once I close it, will you be ok until we’re at our destination?”

Martyn thought about it, that black void absolutely sucked and he hated it but if it was only for a bit then no harm in it right? “Only if you promise to open it back up once we’re there.”

“I will.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good.”

Doc closed the laptop and went on his way, leaving Hill’s Arcade and it's weird owner behind him. 

—

“So did you tell them everything?” A red-haired woman asked, sipping on her tea. 

Joe took a sip of his own tea. “Of course not, Cleo, only a fraction.”

“You could’ve told them, make things easier for everyone, you know.”

Joe laughed. “Oh I know but that would ruin the story, now wouldn’t it.”

Cleo sighed. “You confuse me.”

“Not my fault that I don’t want to spoil stuff.”

Chapter Text

Martyn was plunged back into the black void, contemplating all he had learned. 

According to Doc, he’s been gone somewhere around nine to ten years, which in and of itself was disorienting, and that everyone he knows thinks he’s dead. Martyn could see why people would think that last thing, you don’t just get stabbed through the middle and expect to live. Except he did, fate decided he was worth a second chance and stuck him in a game cabinet. 

That was another thing, why had fate decided he was worth it. Last thing he did was run off in a huff after an argument with Ren, not to mention how he started the whole thing and everything that was said. So yeah, he definitely didn’t think he deserved a second chance.

Light suddenly filled the void. Blinking to gain sight after that flash bang Martyn could see the familiar rolling green hills and blue of Doc’s laptop background, things like folders, search engines, and the like floating in the air. Lying on his back, he rubbed the grass underneath him. He tried to remember how it felt, guess he should’ve touched grass more often while physically alive. 

“There we go,” Doc said to himself. Martyn looked over, seeing the villain through the screen like a window. 

“You actually kept your promise,” Martyn stated, looking up at the fake sky, resting his head on his arms.

“I don’t make empty promises,” Doc replied, setting his laptop on (what Martyn assumed) a desk before ducking out of frame. It looked like he was in an evil lab of some sort, machinery of varying sizes scattered around. Doc popped back up in view. “Alright, you're free to get out of my laptop now.”

“You’re already kicking me out?” Martyn jokingly asked. 

“Yes and no,” Doc answered. “Now through the cord you go.”

“Woah now,” Martyn sat up. “Are you sure this is safe?”

“You did this back at the arcade, what’s different?”

“For one, I was desperate. You would be too if you were a game character, being essentially a puppet to a stranger is not fun,” Martyn started to explain, gesturing wildly. “For two, before this I was just a low life human with nothing special going on besides my looks.”

Doc rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

“Ignoring that. For three, when I was doing it at the arcade I had a vision of where all the games were and, lucky for me, Joe didn’t move anything around.” Martyn finally put his hands down. “You see what I’m trying to say?”

“Yes,” Doc nodded. “I also see where Ren gets his wild gestures from, now hurry up.”

“What the hell man!”

“If you can do it multiple times over in an arcade you can do it once here,” Doc said. “Now the big computer is behind you, get to the end of the laptop cord, take a left, then straight up into the computer cord and just straight through from there.”

Martyn gave Doc a very confused look, making Doc facepalm. “I swear…” Doc mumbled the rest of his sentence, unplugging the laptop and rummaging through a nearby drawer before plugging something else in. “Get in the flash drive.”

“Are we actually trying this?”

“Since you can’t listen to instructions, yes.”

“Fiiine, hopefully this works,” Martyn said, standing up and taking an exaggerated breath. “Let’s do this.” 

In a flash of green, Martyn appeared in a white void, nothing interesting in sight. “This is kinda disappointing,” he said to himself as he looked around him. 

A slight shake and Martyn was on his knees, gasping for air that wasn’t there. Of course there wasn’t air, he hasn’t had to breath since waking up. Then why was he feeling like he was suffocating? Green sparks were coming off him as he went through the suffocating agony. 

It stopped just as soon as it started and was thrown into another white void with a black, front facing, goat logo in the back and the screen in front. 

Even if the suffocating feeling stopped, Martyn was still trying to breathe. Why, he didn’t even know. A tingly feeling started on his cheeks as tears fell down his face from the panic. 

“Martyn, what’s going on?” Doc asked. If Martyn wasn’t panicking, he probably would’ve made a remark about Doc’s concern. 

“I don’t know!” Martyn yelled as he continued trying to breathe.

Doc went to touch something with his metal hand on the side of the monitor, pulling back quickly and rolling his shoulder when a shock was sent up his arm. “Alright, please don’t be mad with what I’m about to do.”

“What are you—”

Martyn didn’t get to finish as something hit the back of his head. “OW! What was that for?” 

“I didn’t know what else to do!” Doc exclaimed.

“What did you even hit me with?”

“The pointer.”

Martyn looked over and saw the pointer nearby just as Doc answered. “Huh, didn’t even know I could get hit with that.”

“We’re getting off topic, what happened?” Doc asked, concerned. 

“Oh, ummm…I don’t know exactly,” Martyn answered truthfully. “One second I’m fine then suddenly I feel like I’m suffocating.”

“So we can both agree, no more flash drive travel.”

“Absolutely.”

A person Martyn recognized, but also looked extremely different, limped out of a room behind Doc. “Etho?”

The person, definitely Etho, turned and stared at Martyn like he saw a ghost. “Martyn?”

Chapter Text

“Martyn?”

Silence filled the room as Etho and Martyn stared at each other, Doc awkwardly standing in between them. 

“Forgot that you both knew each other,” Doc said, breaking the silence. 

“I thought—isn’t he—how is he here?” Etho asked, stuttering through his words. 

“Some weird soul and fate stuff that can’t be scientifically explained,” Doc answered. 

“Isn’t he supposed to be…you know?” 

“Yeah I know, confusing soul stuff.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Martyn piped up, annoyed. “I already know I’m supposed to be dead, so I won’t be butt hurt if you say it.”

“Forgot, you’re behind on the times,” Doc said, pushing a rolling chair over to Etho. “Careful what you say. Man will say he won’t freak out, but he definitely will,” Doc whispered to Etho. “Now what brings you out of bed? You're supposed to be healing up.”

“I was going to tell you Bdubs woke up,” Etho answered, getting off the wall and sitting down. 

“Bdubs woke up!?” Doc had stopped in his tracks at the news. He spun Etho around, gripping the chair on either side of him. “Why didn’t you say that sooner!?”

“Bdubs is here too!?” Martyn yelled out in surprise. “How many people are here that I know?” 

“Just Etho and Bdubs at the moment,” Doc answered. “Now I’m going to go check on our mossy friend, you two enjoy yourself.” Doc pushed Etho closer towards Martyn in his main computer. “You two talk.” With that, Doc turned and left into the medical room. 

“So…how do you and Doc know each other?” Martyn asked, sitting on the corner of the screen. 

“Work buddies,” Etho answered easily. 

“You’re a villain aren’t you?” Martyn joked, with a small chuckle. 

Etho smiled under his mask. “Is it that obvious?”

“Well let’s see,” Martyn looked Etho up and down. “You’re all beat up, you’ve gained a few new scars, and you give off the vibe.”

“Good eye.” Etho laughed. 

“How good are you at it?” 

“At what?”

“At being a villain,” Martyn clarified. 

“Pretty good I think,” Etho answered. 

“Pretty good?”

“Pretty sure I traumatized all the heroes in the corporation at least once,” Etho laughed out. 

Martyn's eyes widened, looking Etho up and down again. “Etho, the guy who tried and failed to prank the teachers with his power, traumatized all the heroes?” Martyn laughed. “How? Last time I checked, your power was making trippy illusions.”

“Things change,” Etho shrugged. “Was at the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up getting a magic rock shoved in my head,” he explained, pulling down his mask to reveal the full scar. “Now I have a cool scar, red eye, changed powers, and am now a boogeyman.”

“You turned into a boogeyman?”

“Yep, now I can see everyone’s greatest fears and make them see it through my illusions.”

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or scared,” Martyn deadpanned. 

“Bit of both, people call me Phobos.”

“Cool. Is Bdubs a villain too or?” 

“Oh he’s definitely a villain,” Etho answered with a laugh. “Calls himself Moss Boss. He ain’t no boogeyman, but dang can he scare the crap out of someone.”

“That don’t sound like Bdubs at all,” Martyn joked. 

“It doesn’t but it is. Definitely more confident with his glare traits though, using them and his spores in combat,” Etho said, pulling back up his mask. “Now how about you? You’re a lot more digital than I remember.”

“Just woke up from a little over nine year nap in a game cabinet,” Martyn answered. “Definitely don’t recommend, by the way. Being a playable character sucks.”

Etho laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good. Now that we caught up some…” Martyn’s smile faded, now staring daggers at Etho. “Now explain.”

Etho was taken aback by Martyn’s change in behavior. Weren’t they just casually talking earlier? “Explain what?”

“What am I supposed to be?” Martyn asked. “Cause I know that you didn’t mean dead, at least not completely.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Etho said, avoiding answering. 

“I might be oblivious sometimes but I ain’t dumb,” Martyn said, getting annoyed. “Now tell.”

“Look, it’s really not that important—”

“If it’s correlated to this whole situation it is important.” A few familiar sparks came from Doc’s computer as Martyn’s annoyance grew. “I won’t be asking again, spill.”

“Fine, ok, I will. Just need you to calm down first,” Etho told, hands up in surrender. “You, as in your body, have been running around as a villain called Listener.”

“Go on,” Martyn proded. 

“Listener has been going around causing trouble on all fronts, heroes and villains alike,” Etho explained. “Me and two heroes were ambushed by him. Used a code word to call for Bdubs and he attacked Listener, but ended up getting electrocuted by him in the process.”

Martyn perked up at that. “So you’re telling me that my body is running around and trying to kill people?”

“Kinda.”

“How though? I’m right here.” 

“You have a point there, but we already suspected some form of manipulation,” Etho said. “Makes some sense now, honestly. My powers are useless against someone who has no fear. Guess the only way to achieve that is to take out the thing that feels. The soul.”

Martyn let the information sink in before he asked, “who found out first?” Etho hummed questioning in response. “I mean, who found out I was—I mean—my body was Listener?”

“Oh ummm…do you really want to know?” Etho asked, hesitant to give an answer. 

“Was it that bad?” Martyn joked, now trying to lighten up the slight tension 

“I would definitely say Ren finding out first as pretty bad,” Etho answered. “Especially with the context of the situation.”

Martyn immediately jumped up at that. “What did I do?”

“You did nothing,” Etho started to say. “Someone sent Listener after him. Luckily Ren is quick on his feet and Doc is good at hand to hand combat,” Etho tried to reassure. Of course he knew the end of that whole situation, but he wasn’t going to tell Martyn. 

‘Left alone,’ hovered over Martyn’s head in red letters. Etho didn’t need to make him worry. “Everyone made it out ok, obviously, but there’s your answer.”

The room was silent as Martyn sat back down in the corner of the screen, holding his legs close to his chest and head leaning back. “You should go and rest,” Martyn said, breaking the silence. 

“Martyn are you—”

“I’m fine,” Martyn interrupted. “Now please, go to bed. It’s late anyway and you need to heal up.”

Etho wanted to argue, but if Martyn was anything like he knew in the past he was stubborn. “Alright, goodnight then,” he said as he pushed himself off the desk and rolled over to the medical door. “Glad to know you’re still here.”

“Mhm, goodnight.”

Etho carefully got up, waved bye, and walked back into the room with a little help from the nearby objects. 

“Finally, we’re done,” Doc said with a sigh of relief. 

“Yay, finally!” Bdubs cheered, arms in the air and hands shaking. “I thought we would never get done.”

“Well we are, now take this and go to sleep,” Doc told, handing some sort of capsule to Bdubs.

Etho just passed by them both and towards the unoccupied bed. Flopping down on hit was probably a bad idea though, sure it was a bed but he was still hurting. That didn’t matter though, after all the confusing stuff happened all he wanted to do now was sleep. 

Even if that meant ignoring Bdubs calls of attention. Doc could handle it. 

—

Ren took a sip of his water as he walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. 

Doc had deemed Ren ok to be at home so he was. Sure he was home alone, Doc had to still take care of Phobos and Moss Boss, but it was fine. He didn’t need Doc to be there, not at all. 

It wasn’t like he needed Doc to be there for every single nightmare he had. He lived a good nine and a half years with no help so he could handle them, even if they were off schedule and happening every time he slept. 

Ren sat on the couch and turned on a random nature documentary. Maybe, if he was lucky, he would be able to sleep through the rest of the night. 

Everything was fine. 

Chapter Text

All the lights were off in the workshop, the only light source being Doc’s computer. 

Martyn had specifically asked if Doc could leave it on. He shouldn’t have been surprised Doc listened to him, but he was. Why was he being a decent person to him even after everything that happened. 

Of course he knew that Listener wasn’t him, but it was because of him that Listener existed in the first place. He was the one that stormed off, he was the one that wasn’t paying attention, not to mention past stuff. 

Martyn couldn’t even imagine what Ren was thinking. He probably wouldn’t even want to see him again after all that’s happened. 

“Stop sulking, I’m trying to sleep,” Doc said, interrupting his thoughts. 

“I wasn’t sulking,” Martyn said. “Why are you still awake, anyway?”

“Oh…ummm.”

—

Doc was lying on his back, on the couch, and staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep. 

Thoughts of trying to find a way to tell Ren about all that happened kept playing through his mind. Some were more pleasant, others not so pleasant. 

Martyn was a whole other issue. He obviously was behind on the times given he missed a good nine and a half of it. Not only that, but he has some very obvious jealousy and self blame issues. 

And well…let’s be honest, Doc wanted to wait a while before telling Ren. His excuse? To wait till he found a solution to help him back into his body. Truth? He doesn’t want to lose the friendship he and Ren made and if that meant hiding something from him then that was what he was going to do. 

He wasn’t going to do it forever, obviously, just until he was certain he had a solution sorted out for Martyn. 

—

“Just some late night thoughts keeping me awake,” Doc answered. “Anyway, want to test something out?”

“Depends, will it hurt?” Martyn asked, suspicious. 

“Probably not.”

Martyn crossed his arms. “Very reassuring.”

“Do you want me to leave you with nothing to do?” Doc asked, sitting down and rolling himself over to his desk. 

“Wait a second, what are you doing?”

“You’ll see.” Doc open up a tab, typed something in the search bar, and pulled up a website. 

Martyn gasped, eyes lighting up some as he looked at the name. “Games?” Martyn asked, a wide smile on his face. 

“Yep, more specifically PowGames games. From what I’ve heard, they make some of the best ones. Perfect for our experiment,” Doc explained, making an account. “What do you want your username to be?”

“Inthelittlewood,” Martyn answered immediately. 

“Alright, Mr.Littlewood,” Doc said with a chuckle as he typed. “What games would you like?”

“Hmm…” Martyn looked at the options before pointing at two different games. “These.”

“‘Tides of the Ecclesian’ and ‘Hidden City: Rats’?” Doc asked, making sure. He got an eager nod from Martyn. “Alright then.”

Doc bought and downloaded both games, with Martyn bouncing up and down in the corner. “What’s got you so worked up?” Doc asked, jokingly. 

“I’ve wanted to play these two games since they came out, but didn’t have the money for it because of rent and other bills,” Martyn explained. “Sure me and Ren split it fifty fifty but still. Being a broke college student sucked.”

“Well now you're staying with a villain who isn’t broke, far from it, enjoy.” Just as Doc finished his sentence, both games finished downloading.

Martyn internally screamed, before immediately hopping into Hidden City:Rats. 

Maybe Doc wasn’t such a bad guy after all. 

—

The museum was dark, the only light coming from the moon through the skylight. 

Watcher’s heels clicked against the marble floor, as they walked closer to their desired object. Displayed in a glass case stood a crystal, blood red fading into a brighter red from middle out. 

“There you are,” Watcher said to themself as they got to the display. 

“Hands where I can see them!” A security guard yelled out, aiming her stun gun at Watcher. 

Watcher complied, putting their hands in the air. “Aww, I was just about to get away with it too,” they whined.

“Stay where you are and things will go much better for you,” the security guard stated, coming closer. 

“You know, I don’t think I will.” Watcher leaped backwards into the air, over the guard, and landed gracefully back on the floor. The guard's gun was then forced out of the guard’s hands and seemingly flew over into Watcher’s. They quickly fired the stun gun at the security guard, effectively making her fall to the ground. 

“Let’s see what people will say about this,” Watcher said before bringing out a small blade and effectively slitting the guard's throat. They watched in satisfaction as blood pooled down onto the cold marble floor. 

“Sad, there was nothing to gain from that kill. Oh well,” they said l, with a shrug and a smile on their face. They walked back over to the crystal like nothing happened. 

Using the blade, they made a circle on the glass. Using a bit more force than earlier, they poked the middle of the glass with the blade. The glass shattered, some of the pieces landing on the floor others inside the display. 

Watcher laughed as they grabbed the crystal, admiring its beauty. “Time to have some fun, little pup.”

Chapter Text

“Oh thank goodness you're here,” a red-headed zombie hybrid said, walking down the stairs of her museum. She had on a fancy white blouse with gold accents, tan slacks, and short black heels. “One of my artifacts gets stolen and a security guard of mine gets killed while on the job. Next thing you know the whole museum gets destroyed.”

“I understand your concern maám, we’ll figure out who did this all in due time.” A tall blonde woman, with her hair tied back in a ponytail, approached the curator. She wore a blue jean jacket, red and white striped shirt underneath, neatly tucked into brown pants with a black utility belt around the waist, and black dress shoes. “We’ll get to the bottom of it. Now if you wouldn’t mind telling me where you found the body.”

“Oh no need to call me maám, that’s too formal. Just call me Cleo,” Cleo said with a wave of a hand and a smile. “Body is in the King’s exhibit.”

“Thank you for your cooperation Cleo,” the blonde said, walking past with a wave. 

She was halfway up the stairs when Cleo called back, “what’s your name Ms.Detective?”

“Oh, it’s False, False Symmetry,” False answered, looking back at the curator. 

“Nice to meet you False,” Cleo waved before heading off to one of False’s coworkers, most likely to do some questioning. 

Entering into the King’s exhibit, False’s eyes landed on the now covered body of the security guard. Other crime investigators were there, taking pictures and looking for evidence. Whoever it was, they weren’t afraid to get messy. 

False put on a pair of nitrile gloves before coming closer to the scene. “Got anything so far?” She asked the nearest investigator. 

“Victim was shot with her own stun gun and slit in the throat,” the investigator said, looking over his pictures and showing one to False. “Clean slit as well.”

False examined the pictures, before walking away to look closer at the scene. She walked over to the destroyed display case, its exhibit gone and replaced with a slip of paper. The paper had a purple rectangle with two broken corners. False held her breath as she grabbed it and flipped it over. The other side had a riddle. 

‘In shadows deep, I always creep,

In silence, secrets, I safely keep.

In the darkest night, my vigil I'll maintain,

A nameless presence, causing chills and strain.

Whisper my name, if you dare,

For I'm the keeper of all you fear.

In riddles and mysteries, I take my role,

Who am I, this enigmatic soul?’

“Shit,” she said to herself as she started her way out of the museum. She had to get to Xisuma. 

—

To say Ren felt like crap would be an understatement. 

He was hunched over the toilet after having just puked his guts out. His body was in pain and he was tired as shit after having barely slept the past two nights. Ren reached over and grabbed the sink, pulling himself upright and looking at himself in the mirror. 

Not only did he feel like shit, he looked like shit as well. His hair was all over the place and on his shoulders, his skin sickly pale, and eyes half-lidded from tiredness. He splashed water on his face and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up some. 

Ren groaned as he started to feel dizzy for the upteenth time since he woke up. He could text Doc later to bring him medicine. 

Right now though, he was going to pass out on the couch. 

—

False entered the hero tower with ease, showing her badge to security before entering further into the facility. 

“Hello, welcome to the Hermitopia Hero Tower. What can I do for you?” The secretary asked before looking up at False from her desk seat. “Oh, False, Xisuma is up in his office. Go ahead.” 

“Thank you, Alex,” False said with a wave, leaving and going into the elevator nearby. Her desired floor was towards the top of the building. 

She pulled out the note from the museum out of her pocket. If her answer was correct, which it usually was, they were almost certainly screwed. 

The elevator door opened and she headed down the familiar hallways to Xisuma’s office. She got to the door labeled ‘Xisuma’, not bothering to knock before she entered. She knew she was always welcome. 

“Xisuma,” False called out as she entered the office. 

The man she was looking for was at his desk. He wore a Metallica t-shirt and blue jeans, brown hair held back out of his face by his headphones, face speckled with black freckles and rectangle wire framed glasses sat on his nose with bright purple eyes behind the lenses. Xisuma was too busy looking through the assortment of documents that were spread across his desk to notice her. Probably also had to do with the fact he was listening to metal music on full blast, but she wasn’t going to judge.

False decided to walk towards the desk and slam her hand on it, in front of him. “Xisuma!” She yelled, trying to be louder than his music. 

It seemed to work as he jumped a mile high, almost falling out of his seat, and scrambling to take off his headphones. “Jeez, False. I know I said you're welcome to come in without knocking, but at least text me when you’re coming over,” He joked, taking a deep breath. “Now what brings you here? You usually don’t come by unless I invite you for tea.”

“Just got back from a crime scene and found something you heroes might want to know about,” False answered, placing and sliding the paper across the desk to Xisuma. “This was at the Royal Museum in place of a stolen artifact.”

Xisuma took the paper, reading through the riddle and looking at the symbol on the back. “You don’t think…what’s the answer to the riddle?”

“The watcher,” she answered. “That’s why I came here. Us at the detective and police agency aren’t able to handle something like this, it’s a hero thing.”

“This is definitely a ‘hero thing’. Thank you for bringing this,” Xisuma thanked. 

“Just doing my duties is all,” False said. “Now I need to head off, still have things to do and people to see.” She turned around to walk out the door. “I’ll come back if I have any more information on this.”

“Alright, see you later, False.”

With that out of the way, False waved goodbye and exited out of the tower. She had one more person to talk to and it definitely wasn’t going to be easy. 

—

Ren woke up in a cold sweat as someone knocked on the door. He rubbed both his eyes with the palms of his hands. 

“Can’t even get a good nap in,” he thought to himself as he sat up. 

Another round of knocking and Ren was starting to get up. “I’m comin’, I’m comin’,” he called out tiredly. He opened the door before he could wonder who was behind it. “Oh it’s you,” he said, a bit surprised. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Same with you,” she said. “Is this a bad time or—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ren interrupted, ignoring the pain in his body (and the fact he hadn’t changed out of his oversized t-shirt and sweatpants) and moving to let False in. “Come in, and make yourself comfortable.”

“Alright,” she replied, a bit hesitant. She sat on the couch as Ren grabbed two glasses of water and set them down on the coffee table. 

“So, how is it being the head of the detective agency?” Ren asked, sitting across from False on the couch. 

“It’s been good, solved a few cases here and there,” she answered. “Nice place you got now,” she said, giving the room a glance before her eyes caught onto the twin fridges in the kitchen. “Why do you have two fridges?”

“Weird roommate,” Ren answered easily. “That’s why I also got a keurig and coffee pot. Man drinks straight from the carafe.”

False laughed. “That is definitely weird.”

“Yeah, but he’s cool though so it’s fine,” Ren said with a flick of his wrist. “Now what brings you here, cause I know you wouldn’t just come for a chat. No matter how nice it would be.”

“Well you’re correct that I’m not here for idle chatting, sadly,” False replied, expression turning more serious. 

“Then why are you here?”

“I’m here to talk about your safety,” False answered, straight to the point. “We have reason to believe the villain Watcher is coming back.”

That one sentence made Ren freeze, replay the words in his head, before responding. “What?”

“Recently there was a break in at the Royal Museum. Someone was killed and an artifact was stolen with a piece of paper in its place,” she explained. “It was a riddle with their symbol on the front of it.”

“But…they disappeared years ago,” Ren said, almost a whisper. “I was…” Ren covered his mouth with a trembling hand. 

“I know this must be scary to hear, but I wanted you to know so you could be careful when out,” False said. “You were the last known victim before they disappeared so it only felt right you knew the situation.”

Ren was trying very hard not to throw up. First it was the nightmares, then the unexplainable pain, now this. He didn’t want to think about it, not now, not ever. But he was and it wasn’t helping his nausea any. “I need to go,” he said before bolting to the bathroom. 

He slammed the door behind him as he stumbled to the toilet. His throat burned as he heaved bile into the bowl. Ren only noticed False was there when he felt someone gently pulling back his hair as he continued to heave into the toilet bowl. 

Ren had lifted his head up once he was done, wiping away the beginnings of tears in his eyes. He was pathetic. 

“Are you good to go back or do you need to stay a bit longer?” False asked, concerned. 

“I’m fine,” Ren responded, with a sniffle. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem.” False let go of Ren’s hair and held out a hand for him to take. “Now let’s get you to bed.”

Ren took her hand and she led him out to the hallway. “Which room is your’s?” False asked him. He just pointed at the door across from them in response. 

She brought him into his room and sat him down on the bed. “Need anything before I go?”

“Just some water.”

“Alright I’ll be back.” She left, coming back quickly with Ren’s glass. “There we go,” False said as she put the glass on the nightstand stand. “Anything else?”

“No, no. I’m good. Thank you, Falsey,” Ren answered, sounding tired and deflated. 

“I know that look,” False said as she sat down next to Ren. “Hug?” She asked, simply, arms out. 

The tears Ren had wiped away earlier came back harder than before, running down his face, as he wrapped his arms around False. His tail was curled up at his side, ears pinned to his head, and his head tucked into False’s shoulder as he sobbed. False just rubbed his back gently, like she used to do. 

“It hurts,” he mumbled into her shoulder, still sniffling but a bit calmer than before. 

“Your arms?” Of course False noticed the bandages. 

“Why did I say that?” Ren nodded. It wasn’t a lie, just wasn’t the full truth. 

“Can I see?” False asked. 

Ren pushed back a bit at that, hands up and waving, with a nervous smile on his face. “Nonono no need to do that, Falsey, I can handle it.”

“Now I need to see, give me your arm,” False demanded, like a mother, holding out her hand. He couldn’t say no to that. Ren scooted closer to her and gave her his arm. 

False unwrapped it. She gasped as she saw the burns running up Ren’s arm. “Who the hell did this?”

“What makes you assume it was a person?” Ren asked, trying to lighten the mood. It did nothing. 

“You took coding not electrical tech,” False shot back. “Now what happened.”

He really didn’t want to remember what happened that night, but he was too tired to think up a reasonable explanation.

“Got cornered by a mugger with a pipe,” Grimm said in his head. 

“Got cornered by some mugger and tried to grab his pipe.”

“Oh void.”

“Turns out, he had an electric ability and sent a strong shock through the pipe when I went to grab it,” Ren explained.

“Of course you would try to grab it,” False facepalmed, with a small chuckle. “Where’s your burn cream and bandages?”

“Underneath the bathroom sink.”

False left again, this time for medical supplies. 

“Thanks for the save,” Ren whispered, seemingly to himself. 

“Consider this an apology,” Grimm replied. 

Before Ren could reply back, False came back in. She sat back on the bed and opened up the burn cream. “You don’t have to—”

“Shush,” False interrupted. “It’ll be easier if you just let me do it.”

Ren rolled his eyes. “Alright mom, sheesh.”

“Don’t you ‘sheesh’ me, mister. I’m not the one who decided to grab a mugger’s metal pipe,” she jokingly scolded, rubbing the burn cream up and down Ren’s arm. 

“True,” Ren chuckled. 

The two of them sat in comfortable silence. False was almost done with Ren’s other arm when she noticed he was dozing off. 

“Sleepy?” False asked as she finished. Ren nodded, too tired to speak. “Welp, luckily for you I’m finished.” False stood up from the bed and gently pushed Ren down so his head was on his pillow, covering him up. “Night, Ren,” she said, ruffling his hair and walking over towards the door. 

“Night,” Ren replied, finally dozing off. He was asleep before False even left the room. 

—

“Maybe I wouldn’t need protection if I didn’t have a mutt like you following me around!”

—

Ren woke up and quickly sat up, trying to calm his breathing. Once he was calmed down enough he noticed it was dark out. 

Without any much thought he grabbed a hoodie out of his closet and slipped it on, doing the same with his shoes, before heading out the door of his apartment. 

Hopefully he could wake up some before he got to the workshop. 

Chapter Text

“Wakey wakey sleepy goat!”

“Five more minutes,” Doc groaned. 

“I already gave you five minutes,” Martyn said with a cross of his arms. “Now wake up.”

“Fine.” Doc sat up in his chair, rubbing his eyes. “What time is it?”

“One thirty-two.”

Doc immediately sat up straight. “Why didn’t you decide to wake me up sooner!” 

“Didn’t feel like messing with you with only an hour’s worth of sleep,” Martyn said with a shrug. 

“I have work to do and people to check up on,” Doc said, quickly getting out of his chair and heading towards the medical room. 

Before he could even make it to the door his computer beeped in alarm, a tab hitting Martyn pushing him offscreen. “Ow,” Martyn groaned, sitting up and seeing stars (literally, stars were circling his head like a cartoon character).

Doc looked over and saw a camera feed from inside his apartment. Running over and getting a closer look he saw Ren setting down two glasses of water and a blonde woman sitting on their couch. “Aw c'mon man. Why’d it have to be her,” Doc complained, head in hands. 

“What about her?” Martyn asked, looking at the woman. “And why do you have a camera set there?”

“Security reasons,” Doc answered.

“And the lady?”

“Head Detective False. Me and her have some…let’s say history together,” Doc explained.

“You had a girlfriend!?”

“NO!” Doc yelled out, face flushed in embarrassment. Clearing his throat he continued, “well yes but not her.”

“Yeah, she seems out of your league,” Martyn commented with a smirk. “I’m surprised you had a partner in the first place.”

Doc rolled his eyes at that. “Yeah, ok.” He continued to watch the camera feed. He watched as Ren’s tail disappeared into the bathroom and False followed close behind. “If I find out she did anything then she’s a dead woman.”

“How about this, I’ll watch the CCTV footage and you check up on Bdubs and Etho,” Martyn suggested. “Unlike you I’m stuck in the computer and you have patients to take care of.”

Doc sighed, deciding not to argue he agreed. “Fine. Alert me if something drastic happens, got it?”

“I I captain,” Martyn said, mock saluting.

Doc rolled his eyes. How did he even get here in the first place? No matter, he had things to do and knowing Bdubs he would be busy for a while. 

—

“Hold still,” Doc growled, struggling with Bdubs bandaging. 

“It’s hard to stay still when you have uncontrollable twitches!” Bdubs gripped back, fingers twitching slightly. 

“Oh don’t use that excuse again,” Doc said with an eye roll. “This happens every time I do your bandaging.”

“Not my fault you do it wrong,” Bdubs complained. “They’re too loose.”

“I’m doing it as tightly as I can, they have to be a little loose,” Doc tried to explain. 

“Suuurrre, excuses.” 

“You know it’d be easier if you use your magic orby things to heal yourself up,” Etho said sarcastically, a yawn making its way through in between. 

“If I could I would,” Bdubs grumbled. “But nooo, a dumb old doctor said I’m not allowed to use my spores.”

“First off, I’m not that much older than you. Second, if you use your spores now you’ll be knocked out for the next week,” Doc explained for the umpteenth time. Seriously, how many times did he have to explain this man’s own powers. 

“I know, I know,” Bdubs waved off with an eye roll. 

“Sure you do buddy,” Etho piped up. 

“Hush it, Ladders.”

“For once I agree. Go to sleep, Etho.”

“Aw c'mon, I’m not even tired,” Etho complained, another yawn escaping from him. 

Doc sighed. “I will sedate you if you don’t shut up, how about that?”

“Good night.” Etho immediately covered his head with his blanket.

“Thank you.” Both Doc and Bdubs said, letting out a sigh when Etho dozed off.

—

Martyn was hanging out in the corner of the screen, head resting on his hands as he leaned back. Not much was going on onscreen, having watched False leave the apartment. 

He couldn’t help but wonder if Ren was ok. The last thing he saw of Ren was him getting helped to his room by False, so he had a right to be a bit worried. Maybe he was just sleeping, that could be it. 

Martyn was worrying over nothing, absolutely nothing. Ren was fine, and everything was gonna be ok. Besides, he probably needed the sleep if he had to have someone help him to his room.

He continued to watch the camera feed, watching Ren’s door open. From what Martyn could see, Ren definitely didn’t need to be out of bed. His hair was messily put up, his skin pale. Martyn looked down at the time, 7:25 pm. Why the hell was Ren leaving the house in his condition at this time?

“Oi! Doc!” Martyn yelled out, getting up from his spot. Conveniently Doc came out then, eyebrow raised.

“Something happen?” Doc asked.

“Yeah something happened.” Martyn deadpanned. “Ren just left the apartment looking like absolute shit.”

“And by shit you mean?”

“Sick as shit”

“Alright then.” Doc rushed over to the exit. “I’ll be back.” With that, Doc left. Leaving Martyn alone.

He sighed before sitting back down and leaning against the side of the screen. This was going to be fun.

—

Doc’s mind was going hundred miles a minute.

Why the hell was Ren walking around sick?!

He was using a pair of mechanical butterfly wings to fly above the city, looking down to get a bird’s eye view. If what Martyn said was true, then finding Ren was his top priority. 

Soon he’d find Ren walking down the sidewalk, hands in his hoodie pocket and back slouched. Doc would land in front of Ren, making the wolf hybrid jump back having not noticed him flying down.

“Doc? I thought you were at your workshop.” Ren said as he looked at Doc. Martyn definitely wasn’t lying when he said Ren looked like shit, with his pale skin and tired eyes.

“I was until I saw you leaving home looking sickly.” Doc said in a slightly scolding tone. That was a lie. Martyn was the one who saw, but he wasn’t going to mention that.

“You have cameras situated in our apartment don’t you?” Ren asked, already knowing the answer.

“Only one above the front door.” Doc clarified. “But we’re getting off topic, why are you out of the apartment sick?”

“First off, not sick. Second, it was too quiet at home.” Ren answered.

“You’re definitely sick, or have you not looked in a mirror?” Doc remarked, hand on his hip as he looked Ren up and down. 

“Oi! I don’t look that bad, do I?”

Doc laughed. “Absolutely horrible.”

“Ok so I may be feeling slightly under the weather, but I’m fine enough to walk the rest of the way.” Ren said, going to walk past Doc.

“Like hell you are.” Doc countered. He then immediately grabbed Ren by the waist and carried him. “Now hang on tight.”

“What are you—OH FUCK!” Ren didn’t have time to comprehend what Doc was about to do until it was too late and they were now high above the ground. Ren was screaming and cursing the whole way, holding on to Doc for dear life.

“Calm down, I’ve got you.” Doc tried to reassure, going up a bit higher so as not to wake up the whole city.

“YOU BETTER HAVE ME!” Ren yelled, refusing to look down as they flew above the city. “I DON’T FEEL LIKE BECOMING A PAVEMENT PANCAKE AGAIN THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

As much as Doc thought the words ‘pavement pancake’ was funny, the thing Ren described was not. So he made the flight end as quickly as possible, bringing them both down in front of the old building Doc hid his workshop in. 

As soon as Ren was put down he hurled. “Never again,” he groaned.

“Noted,” Doc said. He was about to make a completely different comment, but decided to hold off on the sass. “Come on, let's get you some water.”

Ren was holding himself up, hands on his knees and his breathing heavy. “I need a minute,” he said, trying to calm himself down some. “Just…never again.” Doc helped him up, Ren leaning against him now, as they walked into the building that hid Doc’s workshop.

Wait…what the hell did Ren mean by again?!

Chapter Text

“Argh! See you again matey.”

“See ya again Sausage!”

Martyn logged out of Pirates Cove, coming back to the digital world of Doc’s home screen. “Woo, that was fun. You back yet Do–” Martyn saw the elevator door open, Doc and Ren exiting. “Shit!” Without hesitation, he hid behind the trash app.

“Come on you sick dog, let's get you into the sick bay,” Doc said, holding Ren up as he led him away. Martyn watched as Doc and Ren passed through the holes of the trash app, noticing how much Ren had changed after their nine years apart. He looked older, and sick as hell. 

Martyn tried to get a closer look from where he was, head popping up over the trash can. Then Ren looked over, and Martyn quickly went back down.

“Did you install a person on your computer?” Ren asked, looking confused on if he saw correctly.

“No, you’re probably just seeing things.” Something flared inside Martyn’s chest as he heard Doc say that.

“Like hell you didn’t asshole!” Martyn shot up and out from behind the trash app, immediately freezing as Doc and Ren stared at him. 

Martyn buffered, Doc looked a mixture of shocked and pissed, and Ren…Ren’s expression was pure anguish as he stared, eyes tearing up. “Martyn?”

“What the hell were you thinking!” Doc snapped. “This was not the time to reveal yourself!”

“What do you mean it wasn’t the right time? Were you trying to hide me away from Ren?” Martyn snapped back. “Why would you lie to him like that?”

“I thought you weren’t ready to see him?”

Martyn looked at Doc, dumbfounded by what he just heard as he gestured towards Ren. “That didn’t mean I wanted you to tell him he was seeing shit!”

“Maybe you should be clearer with what you want you digital–”

“Will both of you shut up already!” Ren yelled, voice a bit hoarse. “Why the fuck is Martyn in you’re computer? How long has he been in there? How long were you planning on keeping this from me?!”

“Ren–” Doc tried to put a hand on Ren’s shoulder, with Ren pushing away.

“No! I am not accepting excuses. You are telling me the truth, right now. When the hell did this happen and why isn’t hell isn’t he trying to get out and kill us?” 

“Kill you?” Now Martyn was confused. Why the hell was Ren assuming he would–oh. That. “Look, listen, I might not have all the information, but I’m not Listener.”

“Then what–”

“Soul shit,” Doc interrupted. “Something I can’t entirely explain, but this is the real Martyn, conscious wise.”

Ren looked between Doc and the screen containing Martyn, mouth agape and clearly agitated. “And you didn’t call me?”

“I–” Doc was interrupted once more by the sound of the med bay door.

“Hey, what’s all the commotion?” As soon as Etho exited the med bay area everyone turned their attention towards him. “Bad time?”

“You knew too?! Who else knew before me, Bdubs?!” Ren snapped, and everyone suddenly looked very uncomfortable. “Of course he does! Of course everyone, but me, knows what the hell is going on!” He started stomping away and back towards the elevator.

“Ren, please,” Doc went to reach out to Ren, trying to stop him from leaving. “I’m sorry–”

“No! I don’t wanna hear it! None of you thought to tell me about this.” Ren sounded hurt and Martyn wished he could escape the confines of his electronic prison to comfort his old friend. “I need some fresh air.”

“Wait Ren–damn it! You’re sick, you shouldn’t–” Doc tried to stop Ren from leaving, but was too late as Ren left through the elevator. “Damn it, Ren I swear I will force you back down here whether you like it or–”

“Don’t,” Martyn interrupted Doc’s train of thought. “He won’t listen to anyone like this. It’s best to let him have this breather.”

Etho just stood there, in shock and confusion as he finally seemed to register what happened. “Well…that went to shit.”

Doc and Martyn both turned their attention to Etho. “YOU THINK!?!?”

—

Ren stood outside the ruined building that hid Doc’s hideout, taking a few deep breaths of the old city air. His thoughts were a maelstrom of questions and revelations. Why wouldn’t any of them tell him about Martyn? Where did Doc even find this part of Martyn? What the hell was going on?!

“You seem troubled, dear,” a voice said from behind him, one that was…familiar. Ren’s thought went to a screeching halt, as a feeling of dread washed over him. “Something wrong?”

“Who are you?” Ren hesitantly asked.

“I think you already know.”

Ren suddenly felt a hard hit against his head, falling hard on the concrete sidewalk. His vision started fading away as he looked up at the mysterious figure, the Watcher.

“Nighty night!~”

Chapter Text

Doc stood there, mouth agape as he stared at the elevator, the same one Ren left through. Ren left. He just left.

Etho’s voice broke through his stunned silence. “Well…that went to shit.”

“YOU THINK!?!?” Doc snapped, hearing how Martyn yelled the same. 

Doc’s mind ran through many thoughts, ones of hurt, ones of regret, but mostly, ones of rage. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

“This again?” Martyn rolled his eyes. “It’s not entirely my fault Ren got mad, just partially.”

“I think I’m just gonna–” before Etho could finish, a loud blare of noise let out from Doc’s computer. Everyone, except Doc, flinched from the noise. 

“What the hell was that?!” Martyn loudly griped, holding his ears.

“Security system notification.” Doc simply explained as he started pulling up his security site, not caring if he hit Martyn with the tabs or not. “Someone’s messed with it.”

“Doc, if I might suggest, I think you need to change all the sounds for everything in this lab.” Etho deadpanned, crossing his arms. “Your notification sounds suck and and your elevator music is the worst.”

“Shush.” Doc looked through his security footage from outside, Martyn getting back up and rubbing his head in the corner. Footage showed Ren coming out of the building, clearly taking a few deep breaths as he stood there. Then the footage was suddenly cut. “Shit!” Without a second of hesitation, he pushed away from his desk, running to the elevator.

“Wait?! Where are you going?” Martyn yelled from the screen, still dazed from getting hit from the tabs. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but I need to find Ren. Etho watch Martyn.” Before any protests, Doc left, the elevator doors closing with a hiss.

The elevator couldn’t have been slower as the music played. He didn’t even wait for the doors to fully open as he ran out looking around for Ren in a frantic fashion. “Ren?! Ren! Damn it, Ren! This isn’t funny! Where are–” Doc’s blood ran cold as he saw a small splatter of blood on the sidewalk. “No…nonononononono, please no.”

He felt the small sparks on the tips of his hairs, hesitantly kneeling towards the blood. It was still wet, but clearly had been there for a minute. 

“You’re sparking, Doc,” Etho spoke up, interrupting Doc’s rage.

“You’re supposed to be inside,” Doc whispered, a hint of a growl in his throat.

“Bdubs woke up from the commotion,” Etho stated bluntly. “He’s watching Martyn right now. Now how about a few deep breaths, huh?”

“Deep…breaths?” Doc was silent, before he started laughing hysterically. “Deep breaths, of course. That’ll fix everything! Not like the best person in my life was clearly taken away! No! Just gotta take a few deep breaths to make everything better!”

Doc felt Etho’s hands on his shoulders, looking down to meet Etho’s gaze. “Doc. We can’t just go into this without a plan. We don’t even know who took Ren. You can’t go through this headstrong and raging.”

Doc’s breathing was heavy, but started to calm down. Didn’t mean he wasn’t still pissed. “I’m patrolling around the area.” With that, Doc walked away, hands in his coat pockets. He was pissed off, ready to kill whoever the hell took his hound.

—

Xisuma was sitting at his desk, finishing up his paperwork for the night when someone came bursting in, “Shashwamy Void!”

He looked up, confused. “Keralis? I thought you were going home?”

“Was about to, but just got news about a Doctor Goaty sighting down towards the west end of the city.” Keralis explained, putting on his headset.

Xisuma sighed as he got up from his desk. “Let’s get this over with.”

Chapter Text

Ren didn’t know where he was, couldn’t even see. All he knew was that his head hurt and there were ropes binding his wrist and ankles to this chair.

“Sooo~, know who captured us?” Grimm asked, voice clearly more annoyed than frightened.

“Oh shut it Grimm,” Ren growled. Suddenly, the door opened, Ren wincing from the light.

“Well well well, you’re awake. Perfect,” the person in front of him spoke. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he was met with that damned mask. The Watcher. “Enjoy your rest?”

Ren couldn’t breathe, fist clenching as he looked up at them, that familiar broken triangle looking back. “W-what do you want?” His voice wavered as he tried to fake confidence.

Watcher chuckled before leaning down to Ren’s level, petting his head condescendingly. “Oh you poor little dog, don’t you remember? You kicked my sword off that roof all those years ago, breaking it, and then proceeded to steal the magic from an item I worked so hard to get.”

“What?” Ren remembered that night vividly. He could feel Grimm’s confusion then realization.

“I think they’re talking about me ,” Grimm whispered in his head.

“Oh most definitely,” Watcher replied, a sinister grin on their lips as they continued to pet Ren’s head.

“I knew i–WAIT A MINUTE!!!” Grimm’s alarm reverberated through Ren’s head, causing him to wince and Watcher laugh.

“You’re lucky I don’t want to kill you, both of you. Not yet anyway,” Watcher taunted, running a finger along Ren’s cheek. They giggled as Ren shivered under their touch. “Such a pretty little specimen. Can’t wait to get started. 

“Like hell you are!” Grimm physically came out.

“Grimm you idiot! ” Ren griped. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t care what you do to me, but I’ll be damned if you hurt him,” Grimm growled, dark eyes staring daggers at the Watcher’s mask.

“Interesting,” Watcher marveled, grabbing a few strands of the now black hair. Grimm tried to bite Watcher’s hand, but missed by a hair. “Your body physically changes with the Reaper’s magic.”

“Why you little–” Grimm growled, melting into the shadows of the room and out of his bindings. He had to get out of here. He knew Watcher was too powerful for him to face head on. He had to get Ren’s body out of here. Damn why did the hallways have to be so bright!? He exited the shadows and continued running and running. Where was this damned exit?! Damn these stupid lights making his powers useless. Damn Watcher for taking them. Damn–FUCK!

Grimm hit the ground with a thud, someone tackling him to the ground and pinning his arms behind his back and pushing his head into the ground. “I wouldn't try running again if I were you.” It was Listener. Grimm suddenly felt something clasp around his wrist.

He frantically tried to use his powers to fade into shadow, but he wasn’t able to. His powers…why weren’t they working? Why couldn’t he get away?

“Good job my little listener,” Watcher praised, their grin sinister and amused. “Such good work.”

“What did you do to me?” Grimm growled as he struggled against Listener’s hold.

“Just limited your powers is all, Reaper,” Watcher chuckled, kneeling down and pulling Grimm’s head up by his hair. “Now let’s take you back to your cage, mutt. Haul him back to his cell Listener, I’ll deal with him later.” Watcher dropped Grimm’s head back on the floor, letting Listener throw him over his shoulder and walk away.

“Damn you, get back here and fight me you coward! I’ll beat your ass to a bloody pulp!” Grimm yelled. Whether any of it was true was up for debate. He couldn’t show fear now. He refused to show weakness to someone like them.

Chapter Text

A week and nothing.

Grian couldn’t seem to figure out why Doctor Goat was continuously causing destruction in the city. He was more violent than he normally was, and that was saying something considering his normal was, at minimum, three destroyed buildings. Not only that, but Ren hadn’t shown up to the café either.

“You need rest G,” Scar spoke up, wheeling his way over to Grian. “You’ve been at this for days. You need rest.”

“But I’m close,” Grian replied, face practically on the screen as he read through the files again and again. “I have to be.”

“G.” Scar pulled Grian’s chair away from the screen, spinning the chair to make Grian face him. “It’s time to rest. You look like you’re ready to fall over.”

“But I–”

“Grian.” Scar put a gentle hand on Grian’s cheek, rubbing his thumb against the skin. “Please?”

Grian wanted to protest, but he felt Jellie’s fur against his leg, and he sighed, “fine.”

“Thank you, now hop on,” Scar patted his lap, Grian reluctantly listening as he let Scar wheel them away to the bedroom. Scar knew him too well. Tonight was gonna be a cuddle pile night.

—

Doc had just gotten back to his workshop, slamming his ray gun on a nearby table in anger. “Damn it!”

“Nothing again?” Martyn asked, arms crossed.

“Oh shut the hell up!” Doc growled. “Not like you’re doing anything useful.”

“Oi! I’m doing all I can, dumbass! Not like I can do anything outside of the web!” Martyn snapped.

Doc groaned, falling down into his chair and pulling out his phone. It was a simple thing, nothing of his creation, but it did the job well. His lock screen was a photo Ren had taken a selfie of them in the Red Velvet Cat Café with himself in the background, mid-scream with a cat on the table. It was a pretty nice memory, even with the cat there. He was about to put his phone down when he got a text from an unknown number.

???: Do you want your friend?

Doc sat up, staring at the phone screen. “Doc? What’s going on?” Martyn noticed, trying to read Doc’s phone.

Doc: Who are you?

???: Bring me CuteGuy to the bay.

Martyn was getting impatient. “Answer me, Doc. Hello!”

???: Alive. He comes back.

Doc stared at his screen, reading over the messages, over and over. “Doc?”

“I know how to get Ren back.”

—

Grimm was beaten again, his head lolling forward once more as he was knocked back out, going back into his mindscape.

“Welcome back Grimm," Ren greeted him inside their shared mind. “How long did you last this time?”

“Three and a half hours,” Grimm answered, as if he was proud of himself. “I know, impressive right?”

“You’re going to kill us both,” Ren stated, sounding tired. “You can’t keep doing this forever.”

“I’ll keep going until we are both out of here,” Grimm argued.

“Grimm please. Me and you both know why we’ve felt shitty before this. What’s to say we can make it through that?”

“Oh shut it, you’re over-thinking things,” he waved off. “Now I need to get back to spiting Watcher. See you again soon.”

Ren sighed as he watched Grimm fade away from the mindscape, leaving him. Alone.

...

...

...

Selfless bastard.