Everything was black so Pitch had no concept of time, when he started to come too he was just happy to not be dead. “(Ugh, fuck. Everything hurts. I forgot I could feel pain since it's been awhile since I've faced a genuine threat.)” Color and sound slowly started to return as his amorphous body started to hover once again. Making sound of pain that probably wouldn't register as such to a human. As his perception came in he quickly realized he was still in the reactor cell. He heard muffled voices then the device was turned on with him inside it.
Lightning moving through his body never hurt before, but this time it did. Either because his body was already damaged or because it was too much to handle. Pitch continued to let out groans of pain but no one outside responded. Pitch started to try his best to use his body to alter the electricity moving through his body to either cause a surge or at least mess with the lights. After a while the lights in the reactor room started to flicker so Pitch started trying to get them to flicker in a pattern so he could replicate Morse Code. However, as much as he tried, he couldn't seem to get it.
After what felt like hours of torture Pitch heard the familiar voice of Jiryu Ishwada. Unable to speak through the pain Pitch made sounds in the pattern of Morse Code. The message was simple: S.O.S. However, Ishwada left the room and didn't stop the process or unlock the chamber. Pitch continued doing what he could to reach out and be heard but it was difficult to focus on talking with the amount of pain he was under.
Kathryn sprinted through the building asking people if they'd seen Ishwada, running through various rooms before she eventually checked the interrogation room that Pitch was in and found the General squinting at the man inside as he was pacing back and forth in the containment room. Every so often he would stop and look at the mirror, as if waiting to be let out. “There you are, General. You've gotta see this.” She then handed him the two folders.
Ishwada opened one and looked through it. “Evidence of an otherworld? What's this got to do with Pitch?” Kathryn shook her head and took that folder. “Sorry, wrong folder.” Ishwada flipped through the second folder. “I don't understand half of this.” Kathryn turned to a specific spot comparing the new sample to Pitch's old sample. “Now it's difficult to be a hundred percent sure with the damage and the mold, but this sample isn't from Pitch. Because unlike Pitch's sample there's no sign of human DNA. Pitch still has traces of James’ DNA in his crystalline structures. This sample is pure anomaly. One hundred percent Cryptid.”
Ishwada squinted at the results then looked at Pitch in the containment room. “You're saying that guy in there, isn't Pitch? But if that's not Pitch…” Ishwada looked up at the lights flickering. The flickering started to take on a pattern. Three short flickers, three long, three short again, then paused. “Morse Code? S.O.S. Since James' dad was military he'd likely be familiar with it.” Kathryn pointed to the Pitch in the containment. “Then how is that looking like Pitch and knowing our… oh… oh god.” Ishwada raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kathryn. “What is it?”
Kathryn gripped her head, resisting the urge to pull out her hair. “Back when Pitch took out those thugs that attacked the lab he jumped into one of them and basically possessed his body. During that time he experienced a sort of mental bleed that caused him to see the thoughts and memories of the person he possessed. During the fight where the two tried to eat one another they were basically one mass. So it's possible that there was some mental bleed giving the other Umbran some of Pitch's memories as well as his ability to create a human-like protective shell.”
Ishwada takes a moment to let that sink in before bolting to the door. “They turned the generator back on, we need to shut it down ASAP.” Kathryn ran after him to the hidden elevator. As soon as it opened up Kathryn rushed in and hit several things until the generator turned off and switched to backups. The shadowy mass inside slumped and sagged as if having trouble maintaining a hover. It made several warbling noises as Kathryn opened the containment. The entity slowly hovers out only to slump down and land in an empty mop bucket that was left behind from the cleaning.
Kathryn ran to the bucket and tried to lift it only to find it was surprisingly heavy. “Pitch, Pitch, talk to me. Pitch!” The black mass made a series of sounds before letting out a heavily distorted. “Sleep now~”; Kathryn shook the bucket. “Nonononono not yet. Tell me… tell me something only Pitch would know.” The entity made several warbling sounds again. “Mental bleeding… much pain… can't… focus. K-k-Kathryn. K-k-Kat… I… love you.” A small tendril that was trying to reach out slumped into the bucket.
Kathryn started sprinting to the elevator. “Nonononono, don't you dare die on me.” She rushed the bucket to her equipment and started running scans. The bucket was giving off a weak but still present electromagnetic signal. Kathryn rubbed her temples with her index and middle fingers trying to think when she remembered that the sound that cats make can boost healing. By producing sonic and electromagnetic pulses at low intensity and the right frequency it would help heal rather than harm. Kathryn racked her brain to find the frequency and intensity she needed and put on a soundproof headset before getting to work hitting the metal bucket with a complex mix of sound waves and electric pulses.
After several hours of watching the response in the masses electromagnetic signature the black mass started to move again. Kathryn turned off the device and removed the headset so she could talk to Pitch. “How are you feeling?” Pitch let out something akin to a groan. “Like I've been run over by a steam roller. Where… where's the other Umbran?” Kathryn sighed. “He's in a sealed interrogation room, wearing a shell that looks a lot like yours.”
Pitch shifted in the bucket. “That checks out. Before I had a lot more trouble with my true form. Moving around and processing three sixty degree perception. But now it's a lot easier and comes more naturally like I've been at it a while. Basically, we both gained some abilities the other had but we ourselves didn't. I guess that means he's in better shape then I am right now too. If not for your quick thinking I probably would have died. Although… there was something I saw after that pulse hit me. Like… a different version of the lab.”
Kathryn nodded. “We actually picked that up on the camera too. We think that was the theorized otherworld tied to Cryptid creation and the location where Emotional Energy Pollution goes.” The mass in the bucket shifted around, still unable to leave the bucket. Kathryn put her fingertips to the material at the top and gently ran them across the fine sand like surface. “Just rest for now. I'll make sure the imposter doesn't go anywhere.”
Kathryn took the bucket and placed it in a broom closet. “You should be safe here, just let me handle everything.” She then makes her way back to the interrogation room where the other Pitch was starting to pace even harder. She hit the button to talk. “So I ran my tests and found no traces of human DNA. Not only that, but I've spoken to the real Pitch. So who the fuck are you?” Ishwada walked into the area just as Kathryn had finished talking so he could hear the response from the entity.
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The imposter shook his hands back and forth. Nononono, the other one's the imposter. I'm the real James.” There was a long pause with no response. “Not buying it? Oh well.” The fake then smiled a wicked smile, showing sharp pointed teeth in its mouth. Yet another imperfection in its mimicry of James' form. “Well, I had no name before since such things were unnecessary, but you humans seem to have some need to give things names. You can call me Abe, and if you have no intention of letting me out of your own volition, I'll simply see myself out.” The entity that just named itself Abe dropped the facade, seeing no need to try and pretend in order to attempt to further confuse the humans.
The amorphous black mass rushed the one way mirror, Kathryn and Ishwada running out of the way as it smacked itself into the mirror. It slapped it hard with its tendrils several times eventually busting through. The mass hovered through the halls and into an air duct vent. Alarms blared warning others of the breakout. Kathryn ran to the closet security guard and radioed in the person watching the camera footage to see where Abe went. “I don't see him on the cameras, will update when I do.”
Guards rushed to make sure all the other containment units were secure and eventually the radio chirped with a voice confirming the mass was spotted leaving the building and floating off. The other Umbran, now named Abe, was on the loose. Not only that, but it now has the ability to wear a human-like shell during the day to protect itself from the sun. “Shit “ both Ishwada and Kathryn said under their breaths once they got the news. Unfortunately, that would have to be a problem for the future.
Kathryn once again rushed through the building to the broom closet she stashed Pitch and grabbed the bucket still filled with the extremely fine black sand that was his body. “The other Umbran escaped, named himself Abe before busting through the one way mirror and using the vents to get outside without getting attacked or having to run it's way through anyone. I don't imagine he'll be as discerning as you when it comes to picking his meals.”
The mass rippled and waved as Pitch talked. “Damn, I was hoping to be able to go for round two after I recovered by hitting him with sound and UV before I jumped in there. Looks like we'll have to catch him in the wild to do that. I doubt he'll go far as long as I'm still around. He won't rest until I'm dead.” Ishwada tilted his head. “Why's that?” Pitch explained. “Abe cannibalized his own people until he couldn't find any more. Apparently Umbrans get a lot more energy from eating their own than they do eating people. It's not even a competition. So they basically self-cannibalized themselves to near extinction.”
Kathryn nodded. “The murals suggested as much, but I'm guessing you experienced it first hand thanks to the mental bleed that happened while trying to eat him. Unfortunately this means we now have a second Umbran with human intelligence out there. One without morals. Before when it had the intelligence of an animal it was likely easier to track.” Ishwada nodded. “It's a lot easier to predict the actions of something like a wolf than a human. A lot of people say wild animals can be unpredictable but they actually usually have a set of responses to different stimuli.”
Pitch groaned. “Can we… go home now?” Kathryn looked around. “Yeah, let's get you home.” She gave Ishwada a farewell before taking the bucket to Pitch's jeep and loading it inside and driving to Pitch's house. Once there she set the bucket next to the bed. “Get some sleep now so you can heal up. Take all the time you need.” She gently pushed her hand into the extremely fine black sand-like particles and moved it around. “I'll be right here, offering a hand to hold.”
A tendril stretched out from the bucket and gently brushed the side of Kathryn's face. “I'd kiss you, but this body has limits.” Kathryn grabbed the tendril and gently kissed it like one would kiss a hand. “Then let me do the kissing.” She kneeled on the floor with the bucket between her legs and kissed the tendril again as she adjusted herself to move her face closer to the bucket. She pulled her hand out, and kissed the surface of the mass. A ripple sent out like water moving as Pitch made a strange warbling sound. “M-my particles are all concentrated in here, so I'm kinda sensitive with my density in one spot. That's why I was squirming a bit when you ran your fingers over the surface earlier.”
“Oh~” Kathryn said in an almost teasing tone as she once again gently ran her fingertips over the surface, ripples and waves following her movements like a shiver. “So you're saying this is doing something for you~?” Pitch lets out a shivering sound. “Y-yeah. Kinda.” Kathryn smiles. “This gives me several ideas for later, but for now let me take care of you. Think of it like a massage from your girlfriend, with some kisses added in. After all, this is a rare opportunity for some much needed intimacy after such a close call.”
Kathryn gave the surface another kiss before taking her second hand to the bucket and running the fingertips of both hands over it gently. “I was so worried about you for a second there, never scare me like that again.” Pitch let out a soft sound indicating he was enjoying the physical contact. “I'll… try my best. Just don't stop.” Pitch hummed as he felt a sensation that to him was akin to someone slowly running their fingers across the skin and hair on one's arm or lag.
Kathryn let out a soft giggle. “So what base would this count as, hmm~?” Pitch's body continued to ripple and wave in response to the contact. “I… have no idea. This is definitely doing something for me, that's for sure.” Kathryn let out her own hum as she kissed the surface again, this time as she pulled away she hesitated a bit away from the surface. She then stuck out her tongue and licked the surface causing shivers to move through the mass and even a verbal response. “Huuhahh! Woah there Kat, you're getting a little too freaky with it.”
Kathryn giggled. “Sorry, I was curious to see how you'd react.” Pitch made a light grumbly noise. “I bet I tasted awful.” Kathryn shrugged. “Not really. You don't really have a taste or smell when you're clean. Not sure how you aren't covered in stuff right now considering I have no idea when the last time you've had a bath is.” Pitch thought about it for a moment as Kathryn's fingers continued to stroke the surface of his body. “I actually don't clean my true form so I only wash when caught in the rain. I can however vibrate most stuff off me. Kinda like those sonic showers in sci-fi shows.”
Kathryn nods as she digs her fingers into the fine sand like structures in the bucket. “That's interesting. I wonder if that also helps you break down food for digestion.” Pitch hummed. “It's part of the process, that and grinding things down like a belt sander. Or one of those sand blasters for removing paint.” Kathryn adjusts the bucket a bit. “Did you lose mass in that fight? I remember you filling half a tub.” Pitch grumbled. “Yeah, I think so. I'll restore to full size eventually.”
Kathryn frowned slightly. “I guess I can be patient.” Pitch shifted his body in the bucket. “What are you thinking about?” Kathryn moved her face close to the bucket. “Oh, you know.” She kissed the mass again before whispering in a sultry and seductive tone. “Taking a bath in you.” Pitch’s mass shivered intensely in the bucket. “Woah, now we're talking freaky. You do realize what you're implying right? Basically naked cuddle time.” Kathryn nods. “Yeah, I know. But something about almost losing you made me realize that I don't want to miss out on things just because of our physiological differences.”
Pitch let out a sigh of content followed by one of slight aggravation. “It's probably the adrenaline talking then.” Kathryn dipped her fingers fully into the mass and dug around in it. “Maybe, but it's rarely a bad thing to think about the future. We'll get to that point eventually unless something bad happens which I find unlikely. As long as we come properly prepared there's nothing to worry about.” Pitch lets out another contented sigh. “True, we can worry about our problems after I've rested up.”
Elsewhere in New Arkham, as dawn starts to rise, a mass of shadow-like particles hover through an alleyway. The sun starts to burn the creature before it almost instinctively shifts to the human-like gise that resembles James. Abe looked at a reflective surface and pokes at the fake skin on his face. “Am I really only stuck with this one form? It may protect me from the sun but I'll need to cover up if I want to actually pass as human. Such a gross image, even if practical.”
Abe grabbed a cloth from a clothes line to cover his mouth and found a pair of sunglasses to cover his eyes. “Humans really are disgusting creatures. I'd give credit to how industrious they are at finding ways to overcome any obstacle but it's frustrating for something so weak to pose such a significant threat to me.” Abe continued to shamble through alleyways. “I'm starving, guess I'll have to find a quick snack.”
Abe walked through the alleyways until he spotted a bagger shaking his cup. The homeless man looked up at Abe and shook the cup harder. “Spare some change?” Abe took off his moth covering and gave the man a toothy grin. He started trying to back away as he quivered in fear. “D-demon, get away from me!” Abe continued walking forward. “Ah, the taste of fear. Go ahead and scream, it'll only add to my dining experience.”