what am i if not a dog - Bad (5)
(or: the E.G.G.s have superpowers. this, surprisingly, is only the beginning of El's problems.)
(or: or: El Quackity gets rehabilitated like a rabid dog, Quackity yoinks his evil little brother, and A1 is safe and sound at the end of things)
TW: violence, dehumanization, dead eggs mentioned, mentioned sickness/injury
Badboyhalo finds the files on accident.
He's scouring the earth, bloody claws shredding through the dirt and Federation workers lying still in his midst. A corpse gurgles like it's trying to tell him something, but these ones have nothing to say to him.
Before, he would have been careful. He was so, so careful to keep the Federation at arm's length, Dapper tucked into his side next to all of their secrets.
He doesn't regret the lengths he's gone to keep them off the Federation's radar, but...
It doesn't matter anymore.
He can't afford to sit idly, pretending to be the sort of person he isn't.
This, blood dripping down his arms and the taste of flesh caught between needlepoint teeth, this is who he needs to be. If not for the islanders, then for his son.
His son, who's limp and still and hot to the touch like magma is crusting underneath his skin, his Flame that won't stop burning in all the wrong directions.
His son, who hasn't been able to control it for months, his grip on his own abilities loosening with every passing day until it creeps up his arms like vines. Weeds, nestling around his chest and curling down his throat, burning his insides until even screaming took too much for him to do.
His son, who lies like a corpse under the watch of the Islanders he couldn't have afforded to trust before. He could have figured something else out, maybe, but it would have slowed him down. He might not have time to be slowed down by even the smallest of margins.
Ultimately, it was this:
Badboyhalo had a choice, and he chose his son.
He'd do it again in a heartbeat.
He'd do this again in a heartbeat, or maybe even less than that. The blood on his tongue tastes sweeter than he remembered, even in the stale air of doors long unopened.
Bad shoves past his own distraction, pulling open cabinets and flicking through paperwork until he catches sight of the acronym he needs.
E.G.G.
The first file opens to a picture, a little face that stares free from scars and the hardships of the island, a photo taken just after she had been given to her parents; he can see the Adoption Center blurred behind her wobbly grin. He remembers when they lost her, powers they didn't know she had growing in strength and hostility until she died in her bed, writhing in her father's arms.
Beneath the photograph, a lazy scrawl.
JuanaFlippa, it reads, FAIL
Further down, past text he doesn't have time to care about, Abilities: Unknown. Cause of death: Unkown.
Bad snaps the file shut and moves on to the next one.
Tilín's is a face he hasn't stopped seeing, the echoes of them pressed like an imprint into their father.
The photo is fresher, taken from a distance while they glare at Quackity with a playful disdain.
Tilín, it says, PASS
Bad stops for a moment, starts again.
Abilities: Fear Manipulation, Level 4
Fright Night, they'd called it with a toothy grin. It really was something else, something Bad had only once had the pleasure of being subjected to.
Cause of death: [XXXY] ability alteration, authorized by [XXXX]. Crossfire casualty
Charlie had never forgiven himself for the fear that had seeped out from the Skeletons they were fighting, catching Tilín in the midst of it with a sword through their chest. Even after Quackity had finally stopped trying to kill him, a reluctant concession that this was bigger than any of them, Charlie had never bounced back from it.
Ability alteration, though. That's...certainly something he doesn't have time to unpack. Food for thought, Bad supposes as he grabs Tilín and JuanaFlippa's files, tucking them under his arm.
The next file is just as morbid as he thought it would be, the photograph of a barely-visible and too-thin Trump probably taken a few weeks before he actually died. A stark FAIL is pressed just beside his name.
Abilities: Invisibility. Cause of death: Malnutrition, Neglect
Bad's heart aches inside his chest as much as it's able to. He remembers the grief the E.G.G.s had felt, the regret that had choked the islanders when they stumbled across his still-invisible, emaciated corpse that had begun to rot weeks after the fact.
The final file he flicks open is Bobby's, the little boy's wide grin staring directly into the Federation's camera. Bad's not surprised he knew it was there, even though Technopathy was really Leo's thing, feeling the electricity he was sure to move made some sense at least.
Bobby the file reads, and again, PASS
Abilities: Electrokinesis. Cause of death: [XXXY] ability alteration, authorized by [XXXX]. Direct casualty
Bad snaps the file up, adding it to JuanaFlippa and Tilín's.
There's something here, something he's going to find.
If it's the Federation that's killing his son, somehow, someway, he's going to put a stop to it.
---
Bad may have bitten off more than he can chew. Slightly.
In his defense, what with all the Flame in his life lately, he thought it would be funny. Ironic, even.
It is kind of funny, too, even though he doesn't have time to tear through the remaining E.G.G. files as the fires he set start to catch up to him.
He grabs the remaining E.G.G. files without flipping through them and starts to pry open the silver file case that even the high-level clearance badge he stole can't seem to open.
He grunts, his claws straining as he pulls, the image of his son and the dead E.G.G.s he refuses to let Dapper join fueling his efforts.
Finally, the file unlocks with a pop, the case click, click, clicking as he lifts the lid.
Beneath a glass panel, the title sheet is almost entirely blank, except for a small, careful scrawl.
Broadcaster Experiment, Authorized by [XXXX]
It's fairly innocuous, if you ignore how hidden the case was, but Bad can't help but feel like he's stumbled onto something big.
The case clicks under his hands, a steady click, click, click that seems to be getting louder and louder the more that he listens to it.
It's getting faster, too. Click, click, click, click, click.
It takes a moment too long before it--well, it clicks for Bad.
Then, eyes blowing wide, he grabs the case and tosses it as far into the corner of the room as he can, grabbing the files he set aside in his arms and rushing for the door.
The world seems to slow as he takes, one step, two steps, three steps, before the case explodes.
His ears ring, the armor on his back charred and hot where it touches his skin.
He pulls a health pot from his bag with shaking hands and downs it in one go, quick-footed as he hurries out of the burning and now half-exploded building.
Oops.
---
Part 5 of ? First Previous Next
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Phil is always saying he wants to see the demons go full demon mode but the only demon who does lean into the violent side (in the way Phil wants, not just the demonic threats like Mouse and Tina) is Bad.
And Phil will NEVER see this side of Bad because his cocky, overconfident, violent, bloodthirsty and more overtly demonic side only comes out when he's fighting mobs in dungeons, raids, etc.
The only time Bad and Phil are ever fighting together is when there's at least one egg with them. In which case, Bad is IMMEDIATELY in Tio Bad mode and is doing nothing but stressing over the little ones.
His callouts are checking on the eggs, advising them on how to deal with the mobs, reminding them to back up if they need to, making sure they're staying nearby.
Rather than when he's soloing, he's taunting the mobs, telling them to beg for forgiveness, cackling as he shreds them to pieces and asking if that's all they've got, calling out for them to try harder even when he's at half health.
Phil will never get to see Bad go 'demon mode' in the way he wants him to xD
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