One Year Ago.

The town's clock tower chimed loudly as midnight arrived, turning Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. The few cops willing to work tonight patrolled the streets tirelessly in efforts to locate one of the several super villains calling their city home. Meanwhile, two of those very criminals enjoyed the holiday in the warmth of their penthouse apartment.

Only the purple glow of a neon lamp and the lights peering in from the city illuminated their bedroom. Ricky walked out from the bathroom after just getting out of the shower, only black sweatpants covering his body. He approached the bed his lover laid on. Water dripped from his long black hair, down his sculpted body.

"Fuck me." Ryan groaned. He rolled over on his stomach, leaning over the edge of the bed to reach Ricky's body. His lips kissed down the killer's stomach slowly, trailing lower and lower.

Ricky tilted his head back in enjoyment, running his left hand through his partner's hair. He leaned forward only slightly, then his right hand suddenly darted under the pillow. Ricky retrieved a gun, pointing it towards the shadow that had appeared in front of their window. He didn't even bother to see who it was before firing.

The bullet went beyond their intruder, shattering one of their floor to ceiling glass windows. A gust of cold air and snowflakes wrapped around the winged man. "You missed." He teased.

"I don't miss." Ricky responded, "It was a warning shot."

"Be kind. I've come with a job for you." Beau stepped down from the window's ledge, into the violet lighting. "We'll even pay you double because he's a superhuman."

"A hero?" Ryan asked curiously.

"Villain, actually."

Ricky scoffed, "And you need us, because the goody two-shoes heroes don't kill."

"On the contrary, we need him alive, and as unharmed as possible." Beau said.

"Then you're going to have to double that double." He seethed.

He tossed a file onto the bed, responding, "Deal."

As quickly as he'd arrived, he disappeared. Whether he actually was that smooth or he just removed their memory of his leaving, they weren't sure. Ryan picked up the file they'd been given. Their target was only two hours out, in Scranton—A wanted criminal known as Chris Motionless.

Present Day.

Nearly a month had passed. The third week of October was coming to a close, and thankfully, cell block four had gone without incident. Chris was friendly with Vinny now, and Asher no longer hid from him. He'd managed to develop some form of relationship with nearly everyone here, save Ricky and Ryan. The latter of the two had yet to say a single word, and the former said very few.

Vinny was in the midst of cleaning up after dinner, when a female voice came through on his radio. "Mauro, come in."

He walked over to a screen in the wall next to the door and pressed the intercom button. "I'm here." He responded. This line was rarely used in the time he'd been here. When someone did get a hold of him, it always concerned him.

"You're getting a new prisoner." His coworker responded.

"When?" He asked.

She answered, "He just went through processing, so I'd say about two minutes, give or take. Don't worry. He's got a hero escort."

That eased his nerves only slightly. All his current prisoners heard his conversation. They were watching the world outside of their cells, waiting impatiently. Vinny unlocked the empty cell next to Beau's in preparation. A voice came over his radio again, telling him to unlock the cell block door from the inside.

Everyone he took care of was the size of a normal human, and that's exactly what he was expecting to see. When the door slid open, he felt his knees grow weak and nearly buckle under him. The monster in front of him was over eight feet tall. He must've been five hundred pounds of pure muscle. Long swamp green dreads hung over his reptile eyes.

"Um, I don't think we have a cell here that's really fit for someone of his... size." Vinny said, his voice an octave higher out of fear.

There were three supers walking alongside the villain. Vinny recognized them; Destroyer, Deviant, and Prophet. They were members of a very successful team of heroes.

"They told us you were new." Prophet responded, "They didn't give you shit for training, did they?"

"Not exactly, no. I was just kinda shoved into the job." He answered.

Prophet rather crudely grabbed Vinny's security card from his hand. He pressed a particular spot on it that caused a holographic display to project out from the card's face. After entering a combination, the ground began to tremble beneath them. In the center of the room, a circular platform raised up out of the floor.

The heroes shoved the gigantic villain forward. He snarled at them and walked onto the platform. A force field, no different than the ones sealing the cells, shot up around him. Vinny thought some of his other prisoners had inhumane conditions before. That's nothing compared to being trapped in one big tube.

Prophet threw his key card back to him. He fumbled in trying to catch it, dropping it to the ground. As Vinny leaned over to pick it up, he heard the hero scoff, "We put the worst of the worst in 42, and this is the idiot they hired to guard them?"

"It's not like you're jumping at the opportunity to play prison guard." Deviant replied.

They walked out, the door closing behind them. Everyone had different reactions to their newest fellow inmate. Ryan receded into his darkness and Ricky simple snit before going back to his workout. Asher had disappeared again, and it's not like Chris could see him if he wanted to. Friday's stare was one of intrigue, and most likely twisted arousal, while Beau's seemed to be one of sadness.

Vinny returned to the computer screen integrated into the wall. While he may not have known about his key card's alternative uses, he had become fairly competent with the cell block's main consul. He accessed the newest inmate information added to archive, discovering they had added his birth certificate to his file. With that little bit of information, he put a call into the kitchen.

"Hey, Ryder, you still there?" He asked.

The cook responded, "Yeah, need somethin'?"

"Yeah, I just got a new guy. Think you could cook him up something real quick?"

"Be happy to." He answered, "Anything in particular?"

"His file says he's from the bayou, but I mean, whatever you think a giant reptile man would want." Vinny kept his voice low, not wanting to offend him. He's probably had a hard enough day as is.

The cook informed him it would be about forty minutes. Over the last month of being here, Vinny had managed to become friends with him. He wasn't well educated, which was probably why he was an ex-con, but he had a very kind heart. Since he went home to a hole in the wall apartment, he actually looked for excuses to remain at work.

Forty minutes later, there was a warm bowl of food and a hot coffee being handed off to the prison guard. Vinny approached the raised jail cell. The platform stopped at about his hips. He placed the tray down, pushing it through the force field to the demonic looking creature sitting down on the other side.

"Here." He told the prisoner, "My name's Vinny, by the way."

Whether it be out of tiredness or depression, the beast hadn't cared about the shackles around his wrist until that moment. With just one tug, he caused the metal links to break apart. Vinny nearly shit himself. The monster leaned forward, pulling the tray towards him. His demeanor changed when he saw he hadn't been given crappy prison scraps.

"Jambalaya. Haven't had it in years. Merci." He spoke through a thick accent, "You prolly saw my file den, huh?"

"I saw your name was Cromwell and that you were from Louisiana, but I didn't look at much else." Vinny replied.

He scoffed, a strange smirk gracing his lips, "Please. Everybody calls me Croc."

—

a/n

I know I've been updating this a lot and quickly, but I've really enjoyed writing it and it seems you guys have enjoyed reading it, thank you <3