The Chained Watcher

New friends

"Will this do?"

Mumbo was caught off guard for a moment by how remarkably... normal, the Watcher sounded.  Back in the arena, the Watchers rarely deigned to "grace" the gladiators with their voices, instead just pushing mental orders into their heads rather forcefully.  Their voices usually weren't much better, being inhuman to the point of giving those who heard it a headache.

Realizing the transformed Watcher was waiting for a response, he stammered out, "Y-yes, that should work just fine.  Some of the other gladiators are failed experiments, so you should fit right in!" 

A raised eyebrow made him realize something.  He had just compared a Watcher to a failed experiment.  Whoops. "I-I didn't mean it that way! I-it's just that m-most of those who have d-distinct non-human features are W-Watcher experiments, a-and there's a l-lot of variety in how it's... expressed..."

A soft chuckle caused him to trail off, noticing with bewilderment that the Watcher seemed to be... laughing?  He looked over his shoulder, the only thing greeting his eyes being the hallway they've been traveling down.  Ah.  The Watcher was laughing at him.  His face goes red, which seems to egg the Watcher on, the light chuckle growing into laughter.

"I-it's not funny!"  More laughter.  "The other gladiators genuinely do look quite strange!"  Eye contact.  Now he's feeling giggly too.  "The amount of new hybrids who trip over their own limbs is quite a large percentage, I'll have you know." 

'Just don't laugh, it's not funny, really it's not' 

"They don't even get the time to get used to tails or wings or different shaped legs before they-" And almost as if on cue, he proceeds to step on his own shoe lace, tripping himself and ending up sprawled on the ground.  Brilliant.

Lifting his head to look at the Watcher, he sees it bent over with laughter, wings held loosely in a much more casual manner than earlier.  Huh.  It looks up and makes eye contact, and he gives in and laughs too, acknowledging the irony of the situation.  It takes a good minute or two before the laughter dies down to occasional giggles, usually whenever he checks his shoelaces to see if the traitorous things have come undone again.

***Small Time Skip***

They were wandering around the empty halls for what felt like hours, mostly due to detours to avoid heavily trafficked areas, before they encountered another of the escaped gladiators.  Said gladiator was currently fighting several brainwashed experiments, sword fending off the robotic attacks of the masked hybrids. 

Mumbo shuddered at the emotionless movements of those he had once considered more fortunate than he.  After all, they were valued, right?  Surely they would receive better treatment than those deemed disposable.  Now?  He can see that the price of being valued was more than it was worth.

Fumbling with his own sword, Mumbo rushed over to help his fellow gladiator, leaving behind a confused definitely-not-a-Watcher.  Dashing up from behind, he sweeps his leg under the legs of two of the hybrids, before noticing a button on the back of their collars that seems important.  Quite important, it would seem, as when pressed, the struggling hybrid immediately stiffened before falling unconscious.  Well that makes things easier.

He tackled the other one, wrestling with it a bit before finding the off button (What? It's not wrong!) and pressing it.  Turning back toward the gladiator and the remaining hybrid, he found much the same situation he himself was currently in, the gladiator standing up next to their now-unconscious opponent. 

Now that the adrenaline rush was fading, Mumbo took another look at the gladiator.  They were fairly tall, with a cybernetic eye that held a faint blue light and- OH SWEET HEAVENS TheWatcher'sRightBehindHim. 

After recovering from a near-heart-attack courtesy of his totally-not-a-Watcher... Friend?  Acquaintance?  Guide.  Let's go with that.  He looks back to the concerned looking gladiator in front of him.

"Hallo?" The gladiator asks after he managed to wrestle his heart-rate back down to normal levels.

"H-hello there."

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before the gladiator in front of him spoke to break the silence.

"Thanks for the help there, my name's Iskall"

Relaxing slightly at the introduction, Mumbo responded "Mumbo Jumbo, but just call me Mumbo."  He glanced at the unconscious hybrids on the floor.  "They been chasing you for a while?"

Iskall stretched tiredly before answering, "For the past hour, to be exact.  Couldn't shake them, so I stopped to fight them before I got too tired to run," getting an understanding nod from Mumbo.

Iskall then glanced over at the got-forgotten-again not-Watcher and asked, "Who's your friend?" as the Watcher blinked owlishly with mild surprise.

"Oh, yes! This is... umm... Well this is embarrassing, I don't think I've actually asked your name." Mumbo flushed with embarrassment as he admitted that, getting another chuckle from the most-assuredly-not-a-Watcher.

It tilts its head a bit, thinking... "Let's go with... Grian."  Giggling slightly, the Watcher- Grian nodded. "Yes, Grian will do."

"Ooookay then, Grian" Iskall said, nodding at it- him.  "Do either of you happen to know which way is out?  I seem to be more than a bit lost, now that I think about it," they said, looking around at yet another hallway intersection that looks just like the last twenty intersections Mumbo had followed Grian through.

Grian simply nods and continues walking, Iskall taking a moment to process before jogging to catch up to the not-Watcher's surprisingly fast walking pace.  Speeding up to walk next to Grian, Mumbo asks, "Do you think we could pick up some of the others who escaped along the way?  N-not that we have to, but..." he trailed off, before almost whispering, "I don't want to be the reason someone got left behind..." while staring at the ground.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a pat on the head, looking up in bewilderment at Grian as the not-Watcher took a different path than the one they had been following previously, walking with a bit more pep in his step.  Iskall looked over in confusion at the sudden change in direction, but ended up shrugging and following.  Not like they knew which way was out anyways, so why not? 

A couple of turns later, Grian paused shortly before a corner, watching expectantly for a couple of seconds.  Mumbo and Iskall exchanged looks of confusion before someone came barreling around the corner and almost crashed into the group. 

A man with a top hat (where did he get that?) and a pale scar on his face scrambled back to his feet, saying "Scuse me, pardon me, coming through" while carrying a small kitten in his arms.  As the man was rushing past Grian, the not-Watcher grabbed the back of his collar, forcefully redirecting him into a side tunnel that really did not look to have been there from outside with a small yelp of alarm. 

Iskall and Mumbo both followed into the tunnel, watching as Grian entered last, trailing his hand across a seemingly random brick before the wall closed behind him.

The newly expanded group paused, listening as not ten seconds later, top-hat-man's pursuers rounded the corner and rushed down the hall they were just in.  He at least had the grace to look sheepish about almost getting them caught too, before the kitten mewled quietly, drawing his attention back to it.

Seemingly forgetting about the rest of them, the man started baby-talking to the kitten, saying things like "Don't worry, it's okay, all the big scary people are gone now." and netting himself a couple of raised eyebrows from the rest of the group.  A quiet snicker from Iskall snaps his attention back up and away from the kitten, and he remembers he's not quite alone right now. 

Shuffling the kitten to one arm, he sweeps his top hat off in a dramatic showman's bow, announcing, "GoodTimesWithScar at your service, and I must thank you for your timely assistance in my hour of need."