Netherhiem 04
It was early in the morning.
Heavenway academy, a school for middle and high schoolers, built and owned by an elderly man by the name of Richard Heavenway.
At one of the middle schooler classes-history- Kiba the three-tailed fox was sitting with his adopted brother Jesse the rat, who was on the verge of falling asleep.
Their teacher, a middle aged human, was busy writing some info on the board, almost ignoring the rat who was quietly snoring , or it was just that he didn't hear.
Kiba even peeled his attention away from the board to look at one of his classmates: an athletic built tiger was sitting at the front right corner of the class. He had to admit that he had a slight crush on the guy- Ashton Briggs, but he wasn't sure if the tiger knew he existed, he was one of the popular kids, and he for sure wouldn't care for a nobody.
Kiba was usually ridiculed or ignored for his multiple tails, mostly called a freak or monster and the red birth markings that mysteriously appear on his body and face when his body temperature rises didn't help. But regarding who his father was- adopted or not- no one dared to inflect physical bullying.
He suddenly felt a pair of eyes on him from the back rows.
He turned around to simply manage a side glance and found that a boxer was looking back at him, Reginald Edmonds, was a friend- former friend- of his.
Reginald- or Regi to friends- was a good friend ever since they enrolled together at the same day. But Regi joined some of the 'bad boys' of the school becoming like them, bullying others and simply being a thorn on everyone's side.
What hurt Kiba more was that he was the first and now frequent target of said bullying.
The bell rang, and the teacher turned to them, "Okay students, I want you to go in groups of five and do some research on the history of the city and I would like you to concentrate on the finding era of superpowers and heroes. I'll let you decide your group members, although it's okay for one person to do, but the work load will be too much, so it's preferable to form a group"
It was the last period for the day so the students remained in class to decide the groups.
Kiba felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.
He turned and found orange and black striped hands, he looked up and found they belonged to his classmate, the tiger, "Hey, you mind working together?" he had a slightly deep voice, but still had that high-pitched edge to it.
"Sure, no problem" his throat was briefly dry.
"Hey Loneblood!"
Both turned to the owner of the rude voice.
The boxer- Regi- walked over to them with his hands in his pockets, "You and me, got it?" to Kiba that translated to 'that means you'
Another student piped in "Does the phrase 'rude much' ring a bell?" a white rabbit with a black muzzle and eye-patches walked over to the forming group and stood in front of the big bully, he was slightly shorter than the canine, "Saying 'please' never killed anyone did it?"
"Watch it faggot! You better stay out of it"
Jesse- now wide awake- laid his hand on Regi's shoulder threateningly, "You're the one who better watch it, dog"
"Guys please stop" Kiba weakly tried to push the growling canine and rodent away from each other, "We can work together, right? It is a five man project"
They all reluctantly calmed down.
The rabbit was the first to begin, "Better introduce myself first, I'm Lucius Valentine" he held his hand for a greeting, accepting everyone's but pulling back in the last second with Regi.
"Alright then, who's place should we work at?"
All other three, "Yours"
He glanced back at them, "Okay, do you want to come with us now, or later?"
Lucius and Ashton said they will come later, so Jesse gave them his and Kiba's phone numbers. But Regi siad he will call his parents and tell them he's going with the brothers.
They left the school and found Masamune waiting in front of a limo.
Regi was dumbfounded, he knew the Lonebloods were rich, but not 'limo riding' rich.
The group got in after Jesse explained to Masamune the reason for the guest, all the while, the eye-patched wolf was giving Regi a suspicious glare.
Hydrus woke up to find himself sleeping on the chair of his office located within a secret facility in the middle of a huge sea connected lake.
He found the place almost too quiet, his mole and shepard scientists sleeping on their desks, with Nobu, Bernard- the weasel, and the nameless raptor, sleeping on a nearby wall, with Nobu in sitting and leaning his back to the wall, Bernard laid his head on the jackals thick legs, and the raptor laying his head on Nobu's shoulder.
He always thought of the young lizard to be a weird one, he was a mute, but luckily Hydrus took sign language classes before, just to pass the time. He tried to give him a name, but the guy just refused each choice, so everyone just agreed to call him Nameless until he himself finds a satisfying name.
Hydrus stretched before getting up, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. He had stayed at the facility all night calling and assuring his clients that their orders are simply getting their final preparation.
He called the facility: the Mutant Habitat.
Simply because it dealt with bio-genetic mishaps from around the world, like the creature he got from the facility in the arctic, which he called the MammoKong, a mix of mammoth and King Kong, simply because it barley had any fur at all, but was able to withstand and even survive in such harsh cold.
He would splice the DNA of different creatures to create a monster with both characteristics but with a dominant allele of one of the mixed creatures.
He turned to leave the place and head home.
Nobu sensed his movement and woke up, waking the other two with him.
Nobu stood besides his master, "Good morning master Hydrus"
"Morning Nobu" he let out a huge yawn barley awake, "Where's Benjamin?" that's the bear driver.
"I believe he is with one of the guards"
"Good"
The group left and passed by the holding cells of the mutants, who were all peacefully sleeping, they almost looked cute.
They reached the car, and found the back shaking lightly before stopping.
One of the guards- an athletic panda- emerged from the back with a blissful look on his face, followed shortly by Benjamin, who wore the same expression.
"Have fun boys?" Hydrus was smiling from ear to ear, with Bernard still in chastity tried to fight off his erection.
Both ursines were butt-naked, and both tall and buff.
The panda just smiled and blushed, nodding lightly to Hydrus, and Benjamin giving him a soft peck on the head and a light smack on the butt to send him on his way.
The panda didn't even bother putting his clothes back on.
After the bear driver put on his pants at least, they all got in the car.
As they left the facility's area, the dome rose around it, while it sunk to the lake bottom, disappearing out of sight.
While halfway home Hydrus' phone rang.
He took the call, "Yes?" pulling the phone away from him the instant he replied.
"HEY COUSIN HYDE!!!!!"
He pulled the phone back reluctantly, "Hey Mal"
His cousin: Malice was from another Netherbeastian specie called Lust, long story short, there the Netherbeastian version of incubi demons.
He- currently- was a wolf with black and red-tipped fur with small horns jutting from his head, and his eyes were like Hydrus' but with a crimson iris.
"Hey yourself, ever since you came back you never gave us a second thought, the family misses you, I miss you, hell, the crowd at the Den miss you, say high ladies.
A chorus of sing song voices greeted him through the phone, but they were distinctively male.
"Tell them I'll be there tonight...Oh and call grandpa and tell him to expect a call"
"Cool, will do, over an' out" and the call ended
Hydrus had to admit: he did miss his family, and he didn't call or talk much to them, and had to make up for it.
DING!!!!
That's it!
Finally back home.
Nobu and Bernard made a beeline to the dungeon.
He got back home and was greeted by Sylvester, "Welcome home master, the others have been worried about you"
"Well, I'm home now" he noticed the strange black and white Nike shoes "No one told me we had guests"
"That would be one of the children's classmate sir, they have a group project to work on"
"Oh, okay then, go and see if they need anything"
Sylvester bowed and went to carry his orders.
As he was making his way to the lounge, he almost tripped by a sudden weight on his leg.
He looked down.
"Caleb!?"
The baby coon was clinging to his legs, trying to climb up.
He tried to pick his boy up, "STOP!!"
He saw Jim looking worried.
Uh-Oh.
Caleb has the jumpies.
Hydrus began reaching for him slowly, no sudden movement.
Slowly.
Almost there. Caleb reaching his small hands to his father's
Almost-
*Hic*_ _ *Poof*
Aaaaaand he's gone, a small cloud of black smoke took his place.
Caleb was nowhere to be seen.
"My baby!"
Both started looking for him, everywhere.
They suddenly heard him crying from somewhere nearby.
"Mommy is coming sweetheart!" And Jim took off, Hydrus following behind him, with a deadpan expression for the dramatic call.
They found the source of the crying.
"How did he fit in there?" Hydrus was totally dumbfounded.
A marble vase big enough to hide something in was standing between the married duo.
Hydrus knew the kid was small and flexible for his age, but damn.
Jim was looking at him with laser-dagger eyes.
"Okay you don't have to look at me like that" he put a hand into his coat-not it's pockets- his arm actually going inside the coat.
And pulled the crying boy from there by the leg.
Jim took the still crying boy in his arms and rocked lightly, "Shhh, it's okay baby, mommy and daddy are here, it's okay"
Hydrus loved it when Jim took the role and title of mom upon Caleb's birth.
He remembered his own mother- a guy mind you- : A Feral Netherbeast like him.
He conjured a small shadow butterfly and released it at Caleb.
The boy instantly stopped crying when he saw it, and began giggling and reaching for it with his small hands.
Jim smiled and mouthed a 'thank you' to his husband before walking off, the butterfly following them and keeping Caleb happy for the moment.
He resumed to his destination, thinking about Caleb.
His powers awakened at an early age, and growing stronger by the day, if he doesn't do something, next time he teleports would be disastrous.
Caleb had inherited some of Hydrus' powers and abilities, and seemed to have an affinity to teleportation.
Kids sometimes jump a little when they have the hiccups, but Caleb would instead teleport, thus cutely calling his condition the jumpies.
He arrived at his other place of peace, that doubled as a 'from home' workplace.
A tall wooden double-door was opened to reveal a library of sorts, with shelves upon shelves of different types of books, various genres: documentary, fantasy, sci-fi, thriller and many more, even a slightly smaller shelf for kid stories and fairy tales.
A desk was built on the far side of the place facing the door directly, and a smaller table with two cushion chairs sat near a fireplace at the corner for the purpose of easy and calm reading.
At the desk sat a small glass orb, it's holder shaped like a flame.
When he sat down, he took a few minutes for himself to clear his mind. Before leaning over the glass orb.
He put his palms beside- but not touching it- and channeled some energy to it. The orb glowed briefly before lowering to a faint glimmer.
He waited for a few seconds, before tapping the ball with his nails.
ting-ting.
The faint glimmer twisted and morphed, before clearing on an image.
It showed a slight elderly looking dragon, who his lower jaws jutted up from the canine position to look like two extra canines, his skin was deep purple, and a white mane formed through the middle of his head giving it the shape of a smooth mohawk.
He looked at Hydrus with black and green eyes with a smile on his face. Hydrus couldn't help but return the smile.
"Hi grandpa" he began softly.
"Hello yourself kid, long time no see. How are ya and the family?"
"We're great gramps, what about you and the others?"
"We miss you guys an awful lot, you should come over some time, bring the whole house"
"Yeah, I was actually calling to see what time is good for a family visit"
"Anytime is good with us kiddo, anytime is good"
Hydrus gave a small smile and continued chatting with his grandfather for a while longer.
Meanwhile with the study group.
Lucius the rabbit and Ashton the tiger finally arrived and joined the other three.
Hydrus had designed half of the top floor of their house into a second lounge for his kids, with a big wide-screen TV, all kinds and generations of game consoles, which were all mounted and placed on a small wide shelf to hold both the consoles and their many games, a big glass wall that over-looked the back of the house, the small forest around them and the ocean a few miles behind them, and a small kitchenette with one of his servants- an opossum- there to attend to the kids' gaming and studying needs.
Although the group were working, Regi had already activated a console and was playing away, not caring for the hard working group.
They ignored him since they know that whatever they had to say would fall on deaf ears.
They had a plate of snacks besides them as they worked, Kiba would steal brief glances at Ashton, and the other two, Lucius- or Luc as he preferred- was sitting suspiciously close to Jesse.
"So anyone need a break yet?" Kiba got all hands in the air as a reply, even Regi.
"Regi you barely done anything, why do you need a break?" Ashton was calm for some reason.
"Sitting here with you guys is enough to give me a headache" He closed the game and console as he stood up and stretched, "Hey, let's go exploring, this house is pretty much a maze, I even bet that you two" he pointed at Jesse and Kiba, "have not seen most of it"
It was true, Hydrus did place someplaces and rooms of the house off-limits, besides the shed.
"No we can't, dad will be pissed"
"Which one?" the insulting sarcasm was pretty evident in the question.
Kiba didn't know what's going on, but for some reason the votes on exploring the house were against him. 4 to 1.
They were now in the botanical garden.
Regi was taken aback by how big the place is and how many different plants there was, so was Ashton and Luc.
Regi tried to pluck a plant, only to have it snap at him.
"GAH, what the fuck was that!?"
Jesse could barely hold off a laugh, "That's a Snap Vine, a plant pops brought back from somewhere"
Being weary of the other weird plants, left the garden, followed shortly by the others.
They explored almost half the house now.
Until they reached the place that is greatly off-limits.
"WAIT!!" Kiba stood in-front of them to block their advances in the hallway leading to the shed.
"Why? It's just a small room" Regi asked pretty annoyed by the interruption.
"I would listen to him if I were you" Jesse joined his brother, "Dad specifically said this place is off limits"
Regi looked briefly to the side with a look of amazement, "Hey, what's that?"
Everyone looked.
Nothing.
When they looked back, the boxer was not found.
He was half way to reaching the shed, "Regi!" Kiba called behind him, who was soon followed by Luc and Asthon.
Kiba ans his rat brother knew they were going to get hell for this.
They knew that Hydrus' wrath would mean hell on earth, literally.
Regi tried to pull the door open, but to no avail, "Maybe it's locked" Luc observed.
Kiba was now sweating, "S-s-see? It's locked, no way to get in, too bad, let's go back" he was interrupted mid step backwards by a soft annoying creak.
Ashton held the door open, "It's pushed in" and proceeded to go down.
The group went down the long stairs, Jesse and Kiba were just as amazed by the place as the other three, they heard the servants gossip and whisper about the place, but they never saw it themselves.
They reached the bottom door and pushed it open.
"Whoa" they all exclaimed at the sight of the spacious room.
At the Alliance HQ entrance.
A big strong looking wolf walked out to the parking lot to his car.
Lance Burton walked hurriedly to his silver and yellow sports car, thinking about his boyfriend in the hospital.
They called and told him that his condition has gotten worse for some reason, and he had to hurry.
He turned the ignition and drove off as fast as he could, passing a red-light or two, but he didn't care, all he cared about was his boyfriend's safety.
His car screeched to a halt in front of the entrance, he jumped out of the car, almost tripping and burst through the hospital doors.
He quickly ran to reception, which was an old human lady with rounded glasses, "I'm here to see a Dr. Ryse, it's about Rudolph Adams" he was talking while still trying to catch his breath.
Before she could answer, a giraffe doctor patted his shoulder, "Good to see you Mr. Burton, though I wish it would have been under better circumstances"
He nodded for Lance to follow him, until they reached Rudolph's room.
He was laying on the bed with a few drops of sweat dampening his bandages, "As you can see, there is something wrong with him, but we could not figure out what it is, and since you're his......boyfriend, maybe you can shed some light on the matter" Lance noticed the pause, but paid it no mind.
"I don't know doctor, he does have some issues with sleeping sometimes, but nothing like this" he looked closely at his lover, trying to find anything wrong with him, "Huh? What's that?"
Both him and the doctor noticed something black on his neck.
Lance looked at the doctor for some unspoken permission, which the doctor gave.
Dr. Ryse lifted Rudolph's head slightly, giving Lance the space to remove the bandages.
Once they were off, the sight horrified Lance slightly.
Rudolph's left side was mostly bald and burned off, welding his eye shut, although there are evidence of some hair growing back, he was afraid of what his boyfriend would think when he wakes up- if he wakes up.
But the doctor noticed what the big wolf mentioned, "What's that?"
Black markings were swirling and twisting like vines on Rudolph's neck, and going further to his bandage covered body.
Lance frowned at the sight of the markings, "This is not normal"
Back at the Loneblood residence.
Hydrus was done with the call with his grandfather, he really respected him.
His grandfather was the ruling king before his father, he had power and knowledge beyond his years, and those are two things Hydrus respected.
He remained in the 'den' as he called it, reading a book quietly, before his phone rang, he picked it up and regarded the caller ID.
He was smiling from ear to ear.
Accepting the call, he pressed the phone to his ear, "Moshi moshi"
"_Konichiwa_Hydro-kun, long time no see"
"It sure is Sanji"
Sanji Aragami: and old friend of Hydrus', they attended the same highschool in Japan, along with a few other friends.
"How are you?"
"Not much, what about you? Anything interesting happen on your side?"
"No Sanji, nothing to talk about"
"Hey, before I forget, I was planning to come over to Atlus and stay for a while, maybe we can catch-up?"
"Hey that's awesome, and before you say anything, I won't have my best friend living somewhere paying for some landlord"
Sanji sniggered a bit, "I had a feeling you would say that"
"Huh? What do you-"
*Ding*
"You're already here aren't you?"
Ding-Dong
"Something like that"
Hydrus ended the call before- literally- jumping over the desk and dashing to the front door.
He found Masamune in his 'uniform' greeting someone before fully opening the door.
Beside him was a black furred akita with white 'bumps' just above his eyebrows, wearing a dark brown shirt and grey sweat pants, the shirt hugging his figure, showing off his athletic and impressive build. What Hydrus found cute was the small square glasses his friend wore.
Of course all cute thoughts fly out of the window when you're in a wheelchair.
The wolf servant gently pushed Sanji's chair towards his master to greet him properly.
As soon as he got within arm length, Hydrus wrapped his friend in a tight brotherly hug, patting him softly on the back., "It's so good to see you again buddy"
Sanji broke the hug first, "Can't forget someone who stood by me through thick and thin that easily"
"And what about us!?"
Both looked back over to find a group of four other canines and two Siamese cats.
The one who spoke was a english setter, "Are we that easy to forget?"
"GB?" He looked back at Sanji, "You never told me you were bringing the group with you"
Sanji simply smiled and threw his hands in the air, "Surprise!!"
Hydrus stood up from his friend and walked over to the group, GB the setter, a golden retriever, a perky eared black great dane, a black and brown dachshund and the twin cats.
He started with the golden retriever, "Jason my friend" and another bro hug was given out
Then the dane, who was wearing a blue t-shirt that also hugged his impressive figure, and black jeans"Kent" a firm hand shake accompanied by an arm pat, Hydrus' eyes widened briefly, "Whoa, packing more muscle than before ey?"
Kent just blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, the whole group, including Hydrus, were built from soft athletic like the twins, to heavy builder like Kent, him being bigger than the others in the muscle department.
"EY, no feelin' up my hubby" The dachshund perked between the two with a fake stern face. He was slightly shorter than the others, reaching below Kent's shoulder by an inch or two, Kent was also the tallest of the group at 8' 5. He was wearing a pink shirt with a rainbow star in the middle, blue jeans, and a pair of golden earrings hanging from his floppy ears.
"Sebastian you little imp, come'ere" Hydrus scooped the hund in a tight bear hug, lifting him a few inches off the ground, "Huh, looks like Kent isn't the only one who added a few pounds in muscle" True, the slightly short canine had a similar but slightly smaller build than the dane.
If there was a measure between heavy build and athletic, Sebastian would be somewhere in the middle, leaning a few inches towards athletic.
"I had too, figured I would need it in case big, dark and handsome here wasn't around to protect little ol' me" Hydrus remembered when they- him and Sanji- first met the sized couple. Sebastian would always be bullied when they were young and Kent was always there to protect him.
Even after Sebastian's parents kicked him out, Kent's parents were a fantastic couple, accepting and loving of their son and his boyfriend.
Oh, and the two are married.
Hydrus remembered that fact and noticed the two gold rings he himself designed for them. For free of course.
He greeted GB with a light punch to his firm chest, Hydrus being the muscle fetishist could barely hold himself from feeling up each and every one of his friends.
Him, Kent, Sebastian- or Seb- and Sanji met GB- short for Gabriel Brimstone- after he was attacked by a gang once, although Hydrus wasn't there when the other three helped the setter, but seeing his friends scratched and bruised was not something he took lightly.
Later the gang were last seen doing some community and volunteer work.
Two long years of imprisonment and daily 'discipline training' will do that to a person.
He finally reached for the twin cats, one was wearing a dark grey hoodie and black pants, with a snake-bite piercing on his bottom lip, the other wore the same except he had a navy blue hoodie, and an industrial piercing on his left ear, grabbing both in a headlock, "And let's not forget the group clowns: Dave and Kevin"
The twins were the last two to join the group, the other four met them when Kevin was working at a local cafe, trying to save money for Dave's operation.
He was diagnosed with a weird infection that targeted his vital organs, making a beeline to his heart. The doctors were forced to do an operation that had a 0.1% chance of success.
But Hydrus seeing how Kevin was slaving his life away for his brother decided. He found out that Dave's condition was not a normal disease, but a demonic parasite that fed slowly off the host before jumping to another. With the others' help he managed to take it out and destroy it without hurting Dave, curing him instantly.
Although he had to go through a few minor surgeries- all paid by Hydrus- to repair what damage the parasite had done, since it was physical damage.
Through that ordeal alone, the group became inseparable, and their relationship stronger than ever.
Hydrus called for a few oter servants to help carry his friends' baggage and indicated a few extra rooms they had in the house.
He led the group to his garden, all were at awe at all the beautiful flora around them.
They went to the table at the centre of it, sitting down and catching up on lost time.
Meanwhile.......
Kiba, his brother Jesse and their friends began snooping around the magic lab, looking through books and chemical concoctions.
"Hey, check this out" Ashton pointed out a page in one of the potion recipe books. "Mind control, love potion, youth elixir...damn it's like a witches cook book"
*SLAM*
He dropped the book and all of them hid behind one of the tables, luckily it had a front cover, allowing only the feet to be shown.
Someone was coming towards them.
"You little disgraceful bloodsucker, I don't know why the master keeps you around" They heard a shrill but deep voice.
"Come on, he chose me himself, and I in turn have been a great servant" this was a calm if not mocking one.
A few giggles and chuckles sounded as they saw a third pair of feet.
"Forget it Jack, this walking husk won't understand the meaning of love with that scepter wedged up his ass"
"I'll shove my blade up your ass and tear it open, always wanted to find out if vampires bleed" The last part was barely a whisper.
Another small fit of giggles and sniggers.
"Fine! But if the master decides to deal with your incompetence, don't come crying to me"
*SSSSLLLIIIIIISSSSHHHH*
"He always has to do that disgusting thing with the cocoon, why can't he get a coffin like everyone else"
Naturally, some chuckles were his answer.
"Whatever, I'll catch myself some shut-eye, and dream of my lovely adorable boyfriend" he said the last part loud enough for someone to hear.
*SLAM*
Silence......
Regi was now looking very scared, "Are they gone?"
Kiba managed to peek around the desk and found nobody, he put his head back under to address the others properly, "Coast is clear, let's get out of here before anyone comes back"
But the others were frozen with a look of fear on their faces, "What is it?"
They all pointed behind him.
He turned around.
To find a clown looking back at him with a wide painful grin