6: The Beginning

The single henchman who made it out alive served a purpose, and that purpose was to inform others about the attack and the fact that Jay Romanov and Jay Jue claimed the baby as theirs.

There's still no solid proof that the baby was theirs; there's no DNA testing in this environment, so for all they knew, the two Jays have Lady Red's bloodline and are keeping the baby for themselves. However, the truth was blurry from an outsider's point of view because one look at Baby Jay, people would think that the two Jays are really his parents.

With white porcelain skin like Jay Jue and dark hair like Jay Romanov, it seems that the baby shared fifty fifty of his parents' trails.

At least that's what the sole surviving henchman told the others who wanted to come after Jay. Now, people are after them for a completely different reason.

How dare Red King have a wife and a child? How dare he reach for happiness when a war just ended?

Most villains lost everything in the war, so how dare Red King get away with his life and the life of his loved ones, too?

Baby Jay was strapped to the teenage boy's front. JJ was checking everything one last time before they began moving. The make shift baby carrier was a little bit uncomfortable, but Jay was given the Rubik's cube, so he kept his complaints down.

"How far is the cabin?" The teenage girl asked her partner as she put on her cloak.

The Red King looked up at the sun before he opened his compass. "Not far, Jay. About five miles. It's very run down, but at least it still has water."

Five miles of hike in the woods was boring to say the least. The teens did all the work, and Jay was preoccupied with the Rubik's cube. The woods got thicker by the minute, and Jay started noticing the absence of wildlife. There's a bird flying overhead once in a while, but there's nothing else in sight. No squirrels on the trees, not even bugs.

System?

[ USER JAY. ]

Why are there no animals?

[ MASS EXTINCTION OF WILD ANIMALS IN THIS AREA HAPPENED LAST YEAR WHEN LADY BLUE FLOODED THE FOREST FOR A BATTLE. ]

The hell? Okay.

Now that Jay began looking at the trees closely, most of them don't look right. Some had marks on them, so others were bent and twisted in unnatural ways. Chilly winds glazed the baby's face, but Jay refused to cry. He held the Rubik's cube in his hands, which are protected by a pair of oversized toddler mittens.

It got creepier as they went in further, but the two teenagers seem to know what they're doing. Mostly it's just JJ following the Red King, and soon Jay saw a silhouette of a house in the distance.

"We've been here before." The girl commented as she ran towards the front door. Her gloved hand tried to get a hold of the knob, but she gave up and kicked the door.

The interior was not any better than the exterior. Somehow, the lack of cobwebs and bugs made the cabin more unsettling. Dust covered every surface, and the floor creek as the two teenagers made their way inside.

"Yeah." Red King followed behind her with one arm covering Jay's midsection, as if he was protecting the baby from something. "It's Armani's paradise. Without her, the place degraded."

System, who's Armani?

[ CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Armani Wolfwood

VILLAIN ALIAS: Evergreen

SUPERPOWER: Grow and manipulate plants

SUMMARY: She was Lady Blue's second in command. During the battle of Wolfwood, Lady Blue flooded this forest while Evergreen used trees to attack any invaders underwater, resulting in mass extinctions of the local wildlife. Evergreen was eventually defeated by the United Superhero Council. ]

"Fair enough." JJ kicked another door open, and this one led to a basement of some sort. "Do you think the tunnels still work?"

"Last I checked, they're all destroyed by the flood." Red King huffed. "Let's camp here."

"I don't think it's safe enough. People will find us again." The girl took a step down into the basement.

"I mean temporarily, Jay." The teenage boy looked at the kitchen before he snapped his head at her. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"I can feel something's down there." JJ's voice was almost a whisper. "A relic, I think."

Jay was jostled in his baby carrier, and he let out a yelp. His sounds went unheard when the Red King frowned at his partner. "You think?"

"Stay up here with the baby." The girl ordered as she took off her cloak. "If I'm not back in five minutes, call my name."

Her cloak was left at the basement's door before she jumped head first into the darkness. A splash was heard, and Jay realized that the basement was flooded.

"She'll be back, little guy." A gloved hand patted Jay's head, so the baby looked up to see the Red King's face.

He's smiling at the baby, but his deep red eyes were having a storm of emotions behind them. Jay pointed at the basement with his Rubik's cube, and he made a series of babbles, mostly nonsense. The distraction worked, and the teenage boy chuckled.

"Cute little guy." The Red King took a few steps away from the basement door before turning around to look at the kitchen. "Let's see if there's anything we can take with us."

A walk around the kitchen yielded them nothing, so the teenage boy climbed up the creaky stairs. Jay held the Rubik's cube to his chest, and his eyes were wide open, looking for any danger. Fortunately, they haven't found anything worth taking until the Red King kicked down a door to the master bedroom. An unpleasant smell greeted them.

The bed was rotten; the mattress sprouted fungus from every corner possible. The teenage boy covered the baby's face before he proceeded to walk inside, as if he's being called by something.

With one hand, Red King opened the wooden nightstand's drawer. Jay's eyes caught a glimpse of something shiny in there, and he let out a squeak when the teenage boy's hand picked up a few coins.

Gold coins. Currency.

"Sweet." The Red King chuckled to himself. "Let's see if Jay can duplicate them. No, Kaon, don't touch them."

The teenage boy took the coins out of baby Jay's reach, so he huffed in annoyance. Can't he see what it's for?

After he pocketed the gold coins, the teenage boy walked back downstairs. JJ's cloak was left at where it was at the basement door, and the Red King stood in front of it, waiting.

"Jay?" The teenage boy called out. It's probably not even five minutes yet, but hell, even baby Jay began to worry.

Then, they heard splashings again. The baby's eyes widened as he watched something crawl up the stairs, slowly and menacingly.

"Got it!" JJ's voice made Jay scream for a second there, but he calmed down when he realized it was just his caretaker.

She's soaked from top to bottom, so she's shaking from the cold. However, what she held in her hand piped the interest of all of them. It's a crystal the size of a fingernail, tied with black ropes to make a necklace.

"That's one of yours, isn't it?" The Red King frowned as he reached out to touch the item, only for JJ to take it away from him.

The girl looked shaken from her experience, her deep blue eyes looked hollowed for a few seconds before she shook her head. Water droplets hit the baby, and Jay admitted that it's a little disgusting.

"I thought I'd never see it again." The girl looked up at the Red King, her eyes were tearing up. "I gave it to Armani."

Deep red eyes widened, and the teenage boy paled. Yet, he still nodded his head wisely. "Yeah. Yeah. Armani is gone now, you can have it back."

"Her body is still down there. I had to make sure she finally rested." JJ held the crystal necklace to her forehead. Her bangs were now sticking to it, but she didn't care as she mumbled something under her breath.

"Let's get you changed. I don't want you catching a cold." Red King sighed as he nudged his partner with his hands.

The teenage boy stood in such a way that Jay managed to catch a glimpse of something in the basement. The System's interface screen popped up at that moment, and Jay's eyes widened in fear that he dropped his Rubik's cube on the floor.