Library:

Angela peaked her head back into the library, checking to make sure she wasn't interrupting anything before she walked in. She cleared her throat to make her presence known, informing them, "They'll be down in a minute."

"Thank you." Ryan replied. 

"You know, I really should be telling his doctor about this..." She nervously said.

He stood up, slipping his hand around her butt. With a uniform as short as hers, it wasn't hard for him to reach all the way under her. "I don't think that's necessary, Sweetheart. Besides, I'm sure they all have much more important things to worry about. Wouldn't you agree?" His typically tranquil eyes flashed red for a second.

Angela sighed, "Probably, but-"

"Babe, it's fine." Ryan trailed his hand up her back to make her shudder. He smirked at her as he pulled away, leaving a lasting impression. Wandering over to the window, he asked, "Is that a garden?"

"Yes, it is. There's quite a lot of crops out there, too. Paris prefers to cook everything extremely fresh. Besides, most the natives don't eat the kind of food we do. Joan takes care of both gardens. We have one inside and one out. Some of the others will help her when they can." She explained.

"Hm, yeah, I guess Norse Gods, mermaids, and sirens don't have much use for things like that. That's all that's really here, right?" He asked.

"For the most part. There's some other lesser creatures that're all peaceful." She replied.

"If you don't mind me asking, how does the building have power and pluming? Doesn't seem like something anyone else here would have." 

"I don't know the exacts of it, but the building has it's own power source. As for water, there's a lake full of fresh water at the foot of the mountain. A river flows into it, so we don't ever have to worry about running out. The water is fed up here... Somehow. I really don't know much about that sort of thing." Angela laughed softly.

He smiled at her ignorance, "It's okay. I got the basic gist of it." He turned his head in response to the door opening. "If you wouldn't mind, giving us some privacy?"

"Of course." She quickly scurried out past Ghost and Ricky as they entered.

"I haven't seen that dress on you in years." Ryan complimented Ghost, "I guess you took my comment last night to heart."

He could act so nonchalant, it was disgusting sometimes. The couple was stopped dead in their tracks as they just stared for a moment. They had yet to see how grossly thin and depressed their son had become. He was practically a skeleton. For a mother to see that, it was gut wrenching.

"Knox," Ghost approached him slowly, scared he'd turn him away.

He felt his mother's hesitantly. Knox pushed back his chair, standing up to leave. This was exactly what he'd feared. Ryan may have been able to talk him into doing this but he knew he shouldn't have.

"No, Baby, don't leave." Ghost quickly spoke, grabbing him by the arm, "I-I'm sorry. I just..." He sighed as he let him go, "You probably hate me."

"I don't- Mom, are you crying?"

"I told youuuu." Ryan quietly teased. He hid his devilish smile behind his tea cup as he raised it to his lips.

Ghost turned away to hide his shame. He tried to be strong but facing so many crude truths at once was breaking him. Ryan narrowed his eyes at his nephew. With one look, he could say so many words. Knox got the message and attempted to approach his emotional mother.

"Mom, please don't cry. I'm sorry for what I did-"

"What you did?" He interrupted, "Baby, I couldn't give a fuck about that. I'm not crying because I'm upset with you. I'm crying because I'm upset with myself. I'm so sorry- I-"

"Dev, I think you should sit down." Ryan said.

Knox gently grasped his mom's wrist, guiding him over to one of the chairs at the table. They weren't the most comfortable things in the world but it was better than having him pass out. Ricky set his hand on the top of the chair as he leaned over it to tend to his wife. That's when Knox noticed not all of his skin was skin anymore.

"Your hand... What happened?" He stammered.

Ricky glanced down at the metal that made up his palm. He'd gotten so used to it that sometimes he forgot it was there. "I lost my arm in the war." He muttered, "We lost a lot of important things in the war, you being one of them."

Ghost slapped his husband, sneering, "Can you stop being so cold hearted and go hug your son?"

"These are the reasons I love him." He muttered, feeling his cheek burn. Ricky looked over at his son and noted the fear in his eyes. Where that fear stemmed from, he wasn't sure. He still did as he was told, hugging Knox delicately, "I'm sorry." He muttered in his ear, "It's my fault we lost you. You have no idea how thankful I am for the second chances I've gotten." He pulled away from their hug as he continued, "I was lucky enough to have gotten my arm back, but now, I even get my sons back. It could actually make me believe in miracles."

"It's not just your fault," Ghost replied, "It was all of us. We should've gone looking for you but we didn't even know where to start." 

"We talked about looking for all of you, but we had no idea how far you'd gone. I mean, look at how far your brothers went to get away from us. Felix ended up here, in Vanaheim, and Cecil was in Jötunheimr for awhile." Ricky added.

"Please, don't blame yourselves... I should've never run away from my problems." 

"Hey, before this turns into a back and forth arguing over who should take the blame, why don't we just be thankful you're together again?" Ryan said, "After all, you're going to want to learn to forgive and forget because from the looks of it, we may be stuck here. I don't mean to steal away the heartfelt moment to talk about bullshit happening here, but something shitty did happen."

Ricky scoffed, "Because enough hasn't?"

"This one's bad. Really bad. Croc entered into a pact with Jasper. Jasper's pretty dead set on no one finding out what kind of deals he makes, so I have no clue what he offered him. Whatever it was, though, he took it. By supernatural law, any creature branded by a demon is his property, and property was included in the deal. So, Kuza and Croc are now stuck here under his rule." 

"What could he have possibly offered him that it was worth it? That he'd make such a fucking stupid decision?" Ricky sneered.

"I don't know." Ryan moved away from gazing out between the curtains, adding, "You tell me why the Hell a medical facility needs it's own power, water, and food source? Why does he have a fucking armory, and mercenaries on call? And Shae and Micah, they aren't just any old creatures he just picked up off the street. Shae was born and raised in The Black Valley. Micah not only lived there, but he was born in voodoo's heartland. Croc lived in the bayou for a long time too, and he was born in Smog. He's a fucking Juggernaut. Why does he need this kind of protection?"

"They never told you the truth about this place, huh?" Knox muttered.

"The truth?" Ricky questioned.

He set his hand on the back of his neck and uncomfortably rubbed the branding on his skin, "It really is an asylum. He helps us, yeah, but we're here to protect the society and it's secrets. People like me, he doesn't trust with much. I'm on a need to know basis, but I know recently he's been pretty uptight. Something's got him freaked out."

"I understand Maria and Sebastian's murders putting him on edge, but what could be so bad that he needs this much protection?" 

"You ask a lot of questions, Mr. Sitkowski." The warden's voice injected suddenly. Their eyes all darted to the second floor of the library as he leaned on the balcony. "I did plan to tell you the truth, eventually, but I see you've discovered the pieces of the puzzle all on your own. I suppose that's what makes you so intriguing to me. 

To answer your question, I don't know what's after us currently, and that's the problem. I am afraid, even, of what's within my own walls. I was hoping Deacon could help me sort it out, but obviously, we've lost our dear friend."

"He trusted you." Ricky replied, "So did Chris, so I guess we're forced to, but enough of your bullshit. We want some fucking answers."

"Later. For now, I'd like you to join me in watching a good fight." He beamed evilly.

Ricky and Ryan shared a look of concern. Taking any invitation from Jasper for literally anything wasn't of high interest to them. He was the type of person that would lead you off a cliff and think nothing of it. Still, they needed to know where he was going with this one.

| | |

Within the mountain beneath the manor rested an intricate dungeon. The only access point was through the armory, which in itself was very hidden. This place has quickly gone from a simply manor to an insane maze. If it weren't for Micah leading the way, the others would've easily have gotten lost. Even BK, who'd practiced down in the dungeon several times, had trouble knowing exactly where to go.

"I hope you don't mind me being so blunt, but how the Hell did you end up in this position?" Ricky asked the hunter as they walked, "Did you study at one of the temples in Asia?"

He snorted a laugh, "Asia? Dude, I'm from New Jersey. The thing is I'm not exactly 100% human. Have you ever seen XMen?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Mutants are real. They're just extremely, extremely rare. It's literally impossible to kill me because I have a rapid healing factor. I'm pretty much Wolverine without claws. I knew I had to use it to my advantage, so I learned to fight. I traveled all over and kept learning from anyone I could, anyway I could."

"We met in, fuck? 1951, I wanna say?" Felix glanced over at him for confirmation.

"No, I was in hiding then. It was 53, when Barnum & Bailey's was in Myrtle Beach." He started to laugh as he reflected back on the memory, "We met because we both ended up in this bar full of soldiers that just got back from the Korean war, and they weren't too happy to see me there. Felix stuck up for me. I thought he was fucking crazy, taking on like ten guys all by himself."

"Between the two of us, we put them down in thirty seconds. To this day, they're probably still wondering what the fuck happened that day. We kept in touch from that day on, and every time he came through town I went and I saw him, then eventually Lock too. When Cecil and I had to run and hide, I didn't have time to tell BK. Thankfully after I came here, Jasper helped me find them again." 

"Hm, and how'd you do that?" Ryan inquired.

Jasper smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Micah pushed open a gate they'd reached. He held it open for everyone else, saying, "You know, this one ain't right in the head. I took him down here to show him where he could practice and he told me he'd rather live down here than up in the manor."

"It's not a bad idea. We have guards outside and inside the manor. Why not under it?" The warden responded. 

"You always chose the weirdest moments to be optimistic." Marci murmured, "...I realize the hypocrisy in that statement." 

Felix patted her on the head, "I surely would hope so."

She flinched back, glaring at him, "You know better than to touch the hair."

"You're right, I do." He laughed, "I'm sorry, Babe."

"They're cute together." Ryan muttered to Ricky.

"Stop trying to make me like their relationship." He grumbled.

Ryan rolled his eyes, "Oh, would you stop being so negative? There's a lot of weird ass shit going on right now but stop trying to find more things to be mad about. There's nothing wrong with her."

"It's not her. You're right, there's nothing wrong with her, but it's what he's willing to do for her. He's sickly in love with her." 

"We all do stupid things when we're in love. And before you start in with that whole I've never been in love thing, I realized you were wrong about that. I've never had an intimate love with someone, but I have loved people to the point I'd do a lot of stupid shit for them. After all, I came here out of love for my family, and look at the insanity that's come out of that little venture."

He shook his head, "That's different. Loving your family is a different kind of love than loving a man or woman."

"You're right. You're forced to love your family and put up with them. At least you get to pick your spouse." He smirked, knowing he'd gotten Ricky with that one.

The shorter sighed, "I hate you."

"I know you do." Ryan replied, then messed up his hair just to be a pain in the ass.