An Unlikely Duo - A Way Out AU Fanfic

The Winged Newcomer

"Night shift?".

"Yeah..." Vincent sighed softly, knowing his loving wife Carol was disappointed, especially since she would be alone with the baby, "A new monster has been put in today, and our guy who usally occupies the night shift has been pretty sick. I need to take over for him". Carol nodded reluctantly "Well... alright. Just... call me if anything goes wrong, okay? I know some of those creatures can get pretty aggressive on their first day in the preserve". "I promise you I will. I'll see you in the morning, Carol" After giving gentle kisses to his wife's and baby daughter's foreheads, Vincent quietly left his home, getting in his car to drive down to the National Monster Preserve.

It was the beginning of Summer on a Monday morning, about 10:15 a.m. Vincent Moretti, a former Monster hunter, worked at a preserve for all sorts of endangered, and just dangerous, creatures. His job consisted of feeding the monsters, cleaning their living spaces, and occasionally giving tours around the preserve. Even though he worked at a place that protected monsters, Vincent couldn't stand the animals that he helped. Back when he was a hunter, he was scratched in the face by a rabid monster, leaving four scars across the right side of his face. When he married, he gave up monster killing and pursued monster rescusing, hoping it would make him a better person.

Today, a certain breed of monster was just captured and put into the preserve for the first time, being the only time this type of creature had ever been put into this specific preserve. "De Volucribus Hominum" is the scientific name for "Winged Human", but people usually just refer to them as "Wingeds" (pronounced: wing-edd). Since this breed of creature is so closely related to humans, there is much controversy surrounding their capture and overall treatment. There's advocacy groups who believe these monsters should be left alone and not kept in any type of zoo or preserve, and there are others who believe them to be just like any other monster. Vincent was part of the latter group, not really caring about any kind of monster at all. He didn't see them as animals or humans; he just saw them as... monsters.

Once he arrived, Vincent went up to the preserve's office and sat his stuff down, looking over the schedule. A few moments later, Vincent's working buddy stepped in "Good mornin' Vince!". Standing at the office's desk, he turned his head and smiled at his friend, recognizing her slight New York accent "Morning, Emily".

"So how's Carol? It's been a while since I've seen her" Emily sat on the table that was pressed up against the wall and across from the desk, where volunteers' purses, bags, water bottles, and other belongings were placed.

"Fine as always. But she's upset that I have to stay so late..".

"And how's little Julie? How old is she again?" Emily asked softly as she crossed her legs to get comfortable.

Vince kept his warm smile "She's 9 months old. Feels like she was born just yesterday.." he chuckled softly.

Emily returned the friendly grin "So have ya seen the new monster that was brought in earlier this morning? He's a real fiesty one". Vincent lightly shook his head 'no', and in response, Emily stood up and gestured for him to follow her "Well, you're looking after him for tonight, so you might as well meet 'em now".

Every time a new breed of monster was brought into the preserve, someone would have to sit near their enclosure to study their actions every night for one week. This way, the workers could make sure that the animal was growing comfortable with their new home, and getting used to being around humans.

"When we found him, he was on the ground sleeping in the brush of the forest, being hidden by large plants and trees" Emily told Vince as they walked to the Winged's enclosure.

Vincent made an expression of confusion, looking at his friend in pure bafflement "He was.... on the ground? Not in a tree? Did he fall down or something?".

Emily shook her head "No... we don't think so. He looked too comfortable to have fallen down. We think he was just sleeping there 'cause...he wanted to". That was definitely odd. Winged humans are...well... winged! Normally, they would only ever be on the ground if they were hunting or mating, and even then, they made sure to be extremely well hidden. "Strange..." Vincent said simply.

After a 5 minute walk, the two workers were standing in front of the large enclosure. Inside, there were many natural plants growing there that were native to the winged human's habitat. There were also large, artificial trees that were good for resting on. There was even a little pond surrounded by cattails, rocks, and flowers. "He's only been here for a few hours, but we've already been noticing a pattern with him" Emily mentioned "We haven't seen him climb up any of the trees, and we haven't even seen him fly! He's uh.. also scratched up the walls a bunch".

"I'm assuming it's an adult Winged?" Vincent asked, and Emily nodded in reply "Mhm. A full-grown adult male". Just then, Emily's eyes widened and she perked up "Speak of the devil. There he is".

Hidden in one of the bushes was a pair of glowing, bright yellow eyes. The creature stood up from the leafy brush and opened its large wings, which were black, dark grey, and speckled with shiny silver spots. Snarling and hissing angrily, the Winged clenched its fists and glared furiously at the two preserve workers, suddenly throwing itself against the enlcosure wall and angrily scratching at the plexiglass with its claws.

Vincent and Emily both took a step back "Jesus.." Vince muttered quietly. The angry Winged huffed with an annoyed breath and turned away, quickly rushing into the bushes to hide once again. "We've had worse. I'm sure he'll calm down, Vincent. A week is plenty of time to get used to this place" Emily reassured her friend.

Vincent nodded "Well, let's get to work. Today's gonna be a long day".

____________________

"I have to get out of here. I can't take this" The imprisoned Winged, named Leo, rushed away from the strong glass wall and hid in the bushes. As he rushed away, his feathers scraped against pointy plants and the rough bark of the fake trees. "Dammit!" Leo grumbled as he opened his wings away from the grounded plant life, wishing he was brave enough to just climb the goddamn tree "How the fuck am I supposed to get out of here?!".

Feeling defeated, Leo just sat down on a medium-sized stone next to the pond. His long, fluffy ears lowered in shame as he thought of what he should do next. "No. I can't give up. There's no fuckin' way I'm gonna let them treat me like some wild animal!" He growled with frustrated determination. He looked around for a way to escape, leaving the man-made pond and carefully walking around the large enclosure. Soon enough, Leo found a broken vent on one of the walls of his cage, but it was high up, and it would definitely cause a lot of noise to get the metal lid off of it. He sighed, knowing he'd have to wait til nighttime when all of the guards have gone.