- addictive poison -

~The Grubs, warehouse~

Mercy was surrounded by Felix's gang members. Questions came on all sides of her, all about the villain's whereabouts. She had told the members that she would bring and show Pierce this place. Acting as if it was her "hook up" place, but just doing what Felix had begged her to do.

She did so, getting an infinite amount of smokes for it.

But what was taking him so long? She walked with him here only for the villain to stop for a piss. She knew he didn't actually stop for that, he wouldn't take this long for something like that. Only she became increasingly angry at the thought of him ditching her. He had done it before with Rosamee a bunch of times. So him doing it again wasn't so far fetched.

Right when the members went to get Felix, the young man strolled out of the back office to see what his men were talking about all at once. It was the perfect time for the villain to march in.

A deadly expression was masked on his face, his shoulder sleeves were burned from fire that he engulfed himself in. Besides that, he enjoyed the little chat Oxzy decided to give him, even if he got no answer as to why the hero was even there. It was still something other than fighting.

Surprisingly, the villain liked that.

The gang members were fearful when seeing the villain's expression, they stayed a few feet away as he walked towards Mercy. She gave him a smirk, her eyes rolling. "Something happen while you were 'pissing?'"

"Yeah a rat bit my dick." The villain rolled his eyes back, his voice covered with sarcasm.

Mercy turned her attention to the figure coming from behind the villain. Felix was followed by his men, a look of fear on their faces while his was filled with excitement. He couldn't help but smile when seeing his brother standing in the place where he got all his power.

He couldn't wait to share and tell everything about what he accomplished. Only, he stopped when he noticed the look on Pierce's face. The villain didn't seem to see him at all, if he did, he seemed bored. Like someone was bothering him.

Felix cleared his throat, causing everyone to turn their attention to their boss. Pierce felt bored, having Mercy lean on him while she lit a cigarette. Felix held in a growl as he spoke. "Brother, I'm happy you're here! Now I can show you what the gang has been doing."

"It smells like meth in here." Is all Pierce responded with.

The woman leaning on him giggled, letting off a few puffs of smoke. The men around them sneered lightly, feeling a prick in their chest at the mocking tone Pierce used to describe their base of operation.

"Well we have something stronger than meth brother." Felix decided to respond. Stepping closer to Pierce who gave him a small eye roll. The little brother ignored it. "That is what I wanted to show you. I want you to know what power we have. How much money we can get from this!"

"If Zella knows about this, you're not gonna be making much." The villain responded.

The little brother knew what he meant. Clenching his teeth, he thought about it for a few seconds. "She may be a part of it. But trust me, this will be bigger than you think."

"Then I think?" Pierce pretended to ponder, looking down at Felix who didn't flinch away from him. His eyes sparkled, annoying Pierce. The villain would rather look down at the hero who sneered and called him names rather than the little brother who happily looked at him like a savior. It pissed him off, wanting nothing more than to bury the boy who was his brother.

Felix saw what he thought was doubtful in the villain's dark brown eyes. "How about I show you what it can do? Then you would believe how much this will change everything."

His voice dimmed, his eyes becoming dark with a secret hiding behind it. Mercy looked up from the villain's shoulder, seeing right through the younger man. She wanted to prod, to know most of what he wanted to give.

The little leader motioned to the men behind him. In a quick and messy fashion, the big, grubby men scattered back to the office.

The villain and woman leaning on him didn't know what to expect. Felix to Pierce was just a small nosy rat that jumped on any opportunity to please people. To fake it all just to please and get what he wanted. So when one of the muscled men came out with a body behind him that was tied up and withering widely. The villain couldn't help but smirk in astonishment.

Felix didn't move an inch when one of his men roughly shoved the thrashing figure onto the ground in the middle of the floor they were all surrounding. The man was a bit recognizable to Pierce, he realized it was the guy who was hanging out with Randy in the cell he broke him out of. He must have escaped as well, but now was caught in the grasp of the gang with merciless eyes.

"Argh!" He let out a yell while being dragged.

Felix reached out his hand without looking back, one of his men gave him two small pouches of bright blue looking dust. It wasn't shiny, only a solid dust form from what Pierce could make out. The young man came and knelt in front of the weeping man who was tied up, at the mercy of the gang he crossed.

"I will test this on him to show you brother. I already killed Randy and saw this mouse poking around the lake for him." Felix explained, looking up to Pierce who had his hands crossed.

The man tied up looked back at Pierce as well, tears welling up in his eyes as he seemed to plead to be saved. The villain gave no look to him, yawning as if bored, the little brother dropped his smile.

The villain looked around at the shocked, unnerved expressions that surrounded him. He ignored them, feeling a laughter being muffled in his shirt by the high woman who was still leaning into him.

"Well?" He asked, looking back to Felix. "Go on, I don't have all night to be wasting it with you."

Felix shook his head, putting on an embarrassed smile. "O-Of course!" He let out, feeling stupid to anger and annoy his brother. All he wanted to do was make him proud and show him how he was worth being noticed, maybe even liked by the evil man.

He focused back on the pleading man on the warehouse cold floor. Nothing but determination filled his thoughts. He held the little plastic bag to the man's face, opening it and putting some on his palm before explaining.

"The drug works in different ways depending on how you use it. Starting off a sort of, less fun way," Felix brought the blue dust to the man's nose. The man tried to shun away, only one of Felix's men held his head in place so he couldn't shrink away. "If the person only gets a small dose inside his nose, a paralyzed, almost high feeling will go through their head leaving them trapped."

"A-Ah…" The man on the ground showed the sign, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, his mouth hanging open and jaws turning white. Only the whites of his eyes were there, mouth was open in a painful way, drool falling from his lips. Not only that, but a sickening sound came from his open mouth. "Grr, ugrm…" It was like his vocal cords were trying to see if they still had words. No words, only soft and weird sounds coming out.

"But if you put the same amount inside their mouth…" Felix continued to explain, dropping the rest of the packet inside his mouth. The man seemed to get a strike of energy. Lifting his head up from the man that had a hold on his hair, he jerked away.

"Grraaagh! Aggh!!"

Foam ran from his lips, a sharp echo came from his running throat. It was loud and painful, his throat bobbed up and down as a sickening yellow, red mixture came from his open dry lips.

"It acts like a poison, if it's inside their mouth, their insides become mixed with it quickly. It stirs everything up and he throws everything inside him, up." Felix began to explain more. Looking down at the man he caused the suffering with a neutral expression on.

The man fell to the floor without the support from the man behind him. He was tied up but that didn't stop him from shaking violently, the endless amount of blood and vomit pooling from his mouth and onto the floor.

"Blarghh! Arrrahg!!" He yelled in pain, mouth twitching.

Felix stood up, looking at the second bag in his hand. "I don't know if I should show what happens when they consume more since we don't have a lot." He then looked back down to the now motionless man. He stopped seizing in a matter of seconds. His eyes still white like he was possessed, blood and fluids coming from his painfully open jaw. It kept coming even when he was now dead. "A human body can only take in a small bag amount before they die."

The little leader turned to his brother, Pierce gave him a smile, eyes looking at him expressionless. But the smile was all Felix needed to have a fast heartbeat. His body began to grow red, excitement and a thrilling pleasure ran all around his body, sending goosebumps on his exposed skin.

His excitement was slowed when he heard a voice break though his head. "What would happen if you just put the amount in his mouth first and not his nose?" It was Mercy who asked that, still standing behind Pierce but not leaning on him anymore, she wore a disgusted expression. Her eyes lay on the man still pooling blood from his mouth. She was about to throw up like the tall and built men that were around her so she looked away.

Only Felix and Pierce didn't look bothered at all to the display put in front of them all. Felix decided to focus on her question, still feeling a tight joy in his chest when seeing Pierces smile. "It would mute them, they would throw up still and feel the burning pain, but not necessarily die."

Mercy nodded her head, turning away to peer at a suddenly interesting wall all the men were looking at. The little brother kept his focus on his brother, waiting for a response.

Pierce signed out loud. "It's interesting Felix. It's something more resembling a poison rather than a drug."

His words took the little leader back. He shook his head and put his hands up, "y-yeah! That is when they consume it through the mouth! I mean, it has both parts of a poison and drug brother-"

"A drug is something someone is addicted to." Pierce explained, walking over to the corpse. His hands in his pocket and head tilted, the younger brother was ready but not at the same time to hear him explain. "I mean it might be addictive! Have you tried it to see if it is?" Pierce gave a malice smile to his frozen brother. His outstretched foot landed on the dead man's stretched, skinned cheek. "Let's ask him if he wants more of it! Huh, don't you feel that exciting rush?"

Felix closed his mouth, eyebrows knitted together as he took in his brother's words. Pierce looked at him, walking even closer with blood dripping from his stained shoes. "This doesn't seem to involve me. I can do this without a poison that takes tens of men to make." Pierce gave his brother a mocking look, "you did great on something. But it has nothing to do with me."

The villain walked past his brother who stood like a statue. The men around him watched as the villain walked out of the building without a second glance. Bloody footprints followed behind him, their eyes shaking with dread and disgust at the man with a dreadful voice inked into their minds.

Mercy walked past them and followed her manic friend, giving a glance to Felix. The little leader who had an expression of defeat.

~Formay, police station~

The hero had gotten more calls from the sheriff. The blonde called Oxzy again and again to come to the station to talk about Randy, but when he came to do so, Milo started to stroll from the subject. He talked to Oxzy about personal matters, getting closer and closer to the hero until Oxzy felt like ignoring the calls from now on.

He couldn't ignore him forever, Milo kept calling and asking to meet up or talk about going to a cafe or somewhere else to talk. He wanted to do more with Oxzy, to get closer without being pushy or making his feelings obvious in front of him. Even so, Oxzy saw nothing about the affection growing in Milos' eyes. All the hero felt was annoyance for the sheriff's clingy and desperate actions.

It was already the second week after Oxzy searched the grubs for the killer. He didn't dare go back there again if the villain could sniff him out from being in his "territory". So he decided to leave it to the station, being with Milo to meet up at least once everyday, he convinced the officer to search the grubs more and more until anything came up. Nothing seemed to come for weeks have past, all Oxzy got out of their visits was Milo coming closer and closer.

Until today, Milo called him again to discuss what was found in the grubs yesterday. Oxzy thought that Milo called him over with those words just to talk nonsense with him, but when the hero entered the station. It was obvious that something had happened. That something was discovered.

The men in uniform were rushing around, picking up papers, some making phone calls. Oxzy stayed near the door by the wall so he wasn't in the way, he looked around for the familiar blonde hair of the sheriff.

The sheriff walked out of the back office room, shouting orders to the men. They scattered to do as they were told, picking up trashed papers before rushing to the back locker room.

The front only has the hero, Milo, Jamisen, and the new guy Jayce who was asking Jamisen what he needed to do. Jamisen turned to him, not knowing that the hero was here and Milo's rising blood pressure.

Milo quickly noticed the hero leaning on the wall, he walked forward, trying to hide his excitement. "Oxzy, great you're here! I have to show you what we discovered yesterday in the grubs." He explained as he motioned for the hero to the door.

Oxzy followed behind, hearing the door shut behind him and Milo walk past him to his seat. He sat across from Oxzy, shuffling files onto the worn out desk. Oxzy looked down and scanned the files with indifferent eyes. At first, he didn't believe Milo about finding something in the grubs, but now seeing the commotion, he believed something had happened.

He hoped that they found the killer, instead, the file showed a gruesome photo of a man Oxzy didn't recognize. His fate was obviously painful from the photos the police have of him on the files. He had clothes that were drenched in water, his skin looking wrinkly and old as if it rotted away. But what was worse it seemed, was his mouth being unevenly stretched open. Blood and mucus ran down his jaw, foam seemed to be stained to his pale white lips. His eyes white, the ends of the lids red as if he was killed while being suffocated.

Only, no marks were on his neck to show strangulation. So how did he die in such a way? It seemed like Milo was thinking the same as well.

"My men still doesn't know how he died yet. The autopsy report hasn't come in so we will have to wait for a few more days." He explained, pushing aside somethings so he could look at Oxzy.

The hero didn't notice. "Where was the body found?"

"The same place Randy was. The lake at the end of the grubs away from the apartments." Milo explained, an uneasy smile on his face as he watched Oxzy flip through the papers, reading and scanning with his gray eyes. "What is assumed is that he was killed by the grubs gangs to keep him quiet. He was probably given some type of drug that killed him in a painful way. A way that the gangs here would give their own men to keep them quiet."

"Looks more like he was poisoned.." Oxzy mumbled under his breath. The man died quickly, his mouth seemed to be where he ingested it. To the hero, it seemed more like a poison, not a drug like the sheriff thought.

Milo nodded his head, agreeing with him. "It does look that way…"

Oxzy ignored the shy smile on his red face, "the answer would come after the autopsy." After explaining, the hero dropped the files back on the table, sparking the sheriff to fear he was gonna leave.

The hero felt like nothing was being done. There was no point in meeting up with Milo, he wasn't helping with anything, and he only seemed to distract Milo. The files said nothing about the killer, or who the killer could be. Yet it was assumed that it was a gang in the grubs, which was easy to say. But not easy to get rid of.

If the station could not stop these killings, it would be handed to Oxzy to deal with. The hero would want to find it, if only the villain wasn't involved. Oxzy was sure that Pierce wasn't responsible for the killings, that doesn't mean he is a threat to Oxzy when it comes to stopping them.

The hero would have to go back to the grubs and scout for anything that would help the station. He would think that the station wasn't trying hard enough, that maybe the sheriff was distracted. That he wasn't performing his task to help the people.

Oxzy felt the inside of his chest tightened. The sheriff talking while coming closer to him didn't notice the shift in his eyes. The weird feeling but knowing what it meant, the sheriff was distracted by HIM.

Milo came closer, face a light red and a smile that seemed to only focus on him. His eyes were on him, not the important matter.

The curly haired male sighed, standing up abruptly and turninh to the door. Milo stood up after him, quickly, without thinking, the sheriff held out his hand to stop Oxzy. Grabbing onto his wrist he asked with a frantic voice, "hey..! We can talk about something else if you want, you don't have to leave yet-!"

"We need to stop this from continuing." Oxzy responded, turning his head to Milo. The sheriff in turn squeezed Oxzy's wrist, earning a wince.

Only he ignored it and pulled himself closer. "I know that! But we should wait until we know more before heading out-"

"It's already been a long time since Randy's body was discovered." He responded quickly. Trying to pry his wrist away from Milo's hold, he noticed he only held harder. "Sir. If you still want to meet up, we have to talk about the cases. Not only that.. But we have to solve them."

The sheriff acted as if he heard something stupid, his eyebrows knitted together and face scrunched up. "We are solving them! It takes time of course, that's why we should see more of each other-"

"Solve," Oxzy stopped him, stepping a foot forward to look the sheriff in the eyes. "By going out and finding the one responsible."

The blonde's hand became less tense, Oxzy was able to jerk softly away before taking a step back from the now quiet sheriff. The man seemed to take in the words, but not wanting to believe them. He shook his head, grabbing onto his temple as if in pain. "W-We are…"

His voice was quiet, but even with the both of them in the same small space knew that nothing was being solved. Oxzy shook his head, "I'm distracting you sir. With me coming here, nothing is being done."

"What are you talking about?" Milo tried to swipe at his hand again, though Oxzy saw it and pulled away. He backed up, finding the door closer behind him as he bumped into it. "Look- I like spending time with you. I want to solve and fix this town's issues with you!"

His face was more red now that he was inching closer to Oxzy, the hero felt himself recoil, his eyes looking off in confusion. He watched as the sheriff took in all the confidence he grew from the times they met up and put it to his lips.

Oxzy has been kissed before a few times, but only by girls. So this was the first time he has been kissed by another man. Milo moved closer, cornering Oxzy on the wall with his hands on each side of his face. The sheriff was beet red, moving his head down to push deeper into Oxzy's twitching lips.

The hero stood shocked, being pressed into the door, he felt his lips being sucked, his eyes wide open while he tried to ground himself. He knew what was happening, though he wasn't expecting it so his reaction was slow. He didn't want to hurt the sheriff, he knew he was stronger than the man on top of him. But he wanted it to end, he felt uneasy, overpowered by someone he thought was being helpful.

Oxzy tried to push him away lightly with his hands on Milo's shoulders, the sheriff took notice of the small push. Looking at the hero who was tightly pressed between the wall and him, he looked at his face as if he was being suffocated. Eyes closed tightly and neck open from the force Milo was pushing into him.

"Mhm..!" Oxzy let out a growl with his throat, his lips still tightly closed, not letting the sheriff enter.

Milo felt an erection pull on him, having lost control with an ugly lust pulling on him, Milo forced his tongue inside Oxzy's mouth. Pushing in deep, tongue reaching inside and prodding on all places of his warm mouth.

The hero's eyes shot open, disgust and fear ran through his entire body, bringing him energy like a bullet. He roughly pushed the red and lust filled sheriff off him, sending him tumbling on the desk behind him.

The curly haired man brought his hands to his mouth. Covering up his red lips while a rushing feeling of disgust ran through his body. There was also a feeling of betrayal as he came to realize at that moment all the times Milo called him over, all the time Milo was red and being nice with him.

He only ever wanted to do that to him.

The hero didn't want to admit it but he felt hot tears swarm his eyes, the feeling grew more and more as he watched the sheriff stand up. His eyes shot up to Oxzy's bloodshot look. A look of anger crossed his vision. Instead of embarrassment or an apologetic look the hero expected to see, Milo looked up at him with anger.

"What the hell!?" He yelled out, stepping closer after he found his feet.

Oxzy took a step away and bumped into the door once again. His teeth dragged along his jaw, the feeling of a hot wet tongue entering his mouth in a crazed fashion while he was unprepared and frankly, didn't want it, steered his vision. He no longer could think properly.

His hand reached behind him blindly, grabbing onto the doorknob before turning and rushing out of the office. He heard Milo call after him, not catching a word as he dashed away from the station. The hero crashed into a shorter figure, but he didn't stop as the man fell to the floor with a yelp. He kept running from the station, wanting nothing more than to throw up and sob alone.

The person he ran into was on the floor, staring at the back of the hero with a shocked expression.

"Jayce! Oh my god, are you okay man?" Jamisen was in front of his view, Jayce who was still sitting on the ground grabbed the outstretched hand that helped him up. He turned to where he saw the hero run off, but the man was already gone. "Why the hell did he run off like that-"

"Oxzy! Oxzy wait!" Milo rushed from his office, sweat dripping from his red face. He looked around for the man he was calling, seeing no one. He looked down, covering his eyes with a hand and let out a sigh.

Jamisen and Jayce turned to their boss, Jayce seeing what happened without seeing anything. Jamisen on the other hand, shook his head. "The hell happened? What'd he do?"

Milo looked to his men, ignoring Jamisen before turning back to his office and shutting the door with a slam. Jamisen looked taken aback, a face that read a clean and annoyed look. He turned to Jayce, "can you believe this guy is our sheriff?" He joked out, earning a laugh from Jayce.

Jamisen continued to rant, knocking on the office door while calling for Milo to explain himself but getting nothing in return. Jayce stood by and watched, he knew what had happened just by the look on Milos face.

It was honestly such a good opportunity. Jayce came at such a good time, it seemed like he now had an opening to do what he came here to do. He walked forward and to the door Jamisen continued to bang on, he set his hand on it, stopping angry man that turned to look at him.

"How about let me talk to him?" He asked with a small smile.

Jamisen looked at him like he grew two heads, his head shook in defeat. "Go ahead."

Jayce gave him a smile, opening the unlocked door. "I'll be quick." He smiled once again before softly shutting the door with a confused officer on the other side.

~Cleoi, Oxzy's apartment~

The hero entered his apartment with sweat rolling down his red face. His hair also felt damp with sweat, his breathing heavy and mind racing. When entering through the door, he sank to the wooded ground.

The tears in his eyes felt hotter than ever, he held it in. Closing his eyes, he pulled his knees to his chest, burying his head into his legs. He didn't know what to do. Didn't know what to think.

All he could think about was Milo.

Why would he do that? What was he thinking!?

The hero suddenly had an urge to throw up. He hadn't eaten anything since this morning so nothing came up. He was hunched over onto the floor, trying to calm his quick breaths. He had to think of something else, the more he relived the kiss and the invading feeling in his mouth from a man's tongue grossed him out too much.

A few minutes on the cold floor in a dark room, Oxzy finally lifted himself up. He was holding his chest, still wanting to cry and throw up while keeping a straight face. He walked over to the sink, getting a glass from the cabinet, he filled it with water.

He chugged it down quickly with a swift motion, setting it down before looking in the sink. He breathed deeply before sticking his finger down his throat, a violent rush of water came back up and out of his mouth. He looked down and threw it all back up, clutching hard onto the sink counter as he threw up all his insides.

"Guh… Urgh!" He tried to throw up more, but nothing else came out. He hunched over, eyes closed with drool falling from his clenched jaw. "Gruhr…"

He didn't want to look up or even move. He heard a soft meow coming from behind him, he knew his kitten was standing under him, worried meows made the hero smile lightly. A feeling of relief pressed into his chest, feeling comfort in his home where something he loved, loved him back.

The relief was anguished when he heard a distant crash from outside his closed off window. His head pulled up quickly, he rushed over to the window with quick feet to look for the source of the noise. He saw fire a bit farther back. He looked closer, wild smoke ran from the top, but just as quickly, the fire was put out. Oxzy looked out in shock and confusion. He hadn't seen a fire go out itself, he had to make sure nothing bad was happening.

Since a fire always meant Pierce.