An Unlikely Duo - A Way Out AU Fanfic

The Warehouse

"LET ME GO, GOD DAMMIT! FUCKIN' ASSHOLES! I WAS HELPING HIM!" Leo struggled with all his might, being beyond furious. He looked towards Vincent, who looked close to death. As he watched Vincent's head rest to the ground, Leo's heart dropped. Thinking he had just watched his friend die, Leo gave up and just allowed the preserve workers to put him in a cage.

"Vincent..." Leo's soft ears rested against the back of his head and he slouched against the cage walls, the fluff of his feathered chest collecting the tears that fell from his face. It was all over. Sure, Harvey was dead, and all of those mistreated monsters would be sent to proper sanctuaries, but...Leo was alone. His only friend in the world was gone, and...he'd likely never see his wife or kid ever again.

Ask anyone who knows Leo, and they'd tell you that he's the toughest, most brash Winged around, but right now...Leo was gone. He had given up; ..something that the true Leo would never even think about doing. The lonely creature pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, bringing his wings and tail close to himself. As the chopper took off, presumably back to the Monster Preserve, Leo just closed his eyes, loneliness being his only companion.

Hours later, the helicopter finally landed, and Leo was removed from the vehicle, still sitting in the cage. He kept close to himself, hiding in his large black wings. Because of this, he couldn't see where they were taking him, but at this point, he was too depressed to show his face to those damn humans.

Finally, after what felt like years, the cage's movement stopped, and he heard three pairs of footsteps walk away and close the door behind them. Leo waited a few moments before slowly opening his wings to see where he was.

The space was vast and cold, dark and cluttered. He must've been in some sort of warehouse or something, because large, stacked boxes surrounded him, and at the end of the sizeable room was a tall garage door.

With the muzzle still on, and the rope still tied around Leo's wrists, he just lowered himself to the cage's floor, once again covering himself with his big wings.

This was it. He was probably getting shipped to some zoo in a different country. Why should he expect anything less awful than that?

____________________

"Vincent! It's good to see you're out of the hospital. What's brought you? You do know that you're off for 2 weeks, right?"

Pure determination fueled Vincent as he entered the Monster Preserve's office. His boss, James, is the one who greeted him. "Hey James. I know" Vince simply stated "I need to talk to you about something".

James took a simple sip of his coffee and nodded "Sure thing".

Vincent sighed, knowing he wouldn't like his suggestion "We... we need to release the Wingeds we have. And that includes the one you're about to send away".

Just as Vincent expected, James looked up at him with a stupefied look. After just a few seconds of silence, his boss started to laugh "Vincent, I know you work here, but it's no secret that you hate all monsters, especially Wingeds. I'm not sure where that came from, but that's certainly something we're not going to do".

Those words just....infuriated Vincent. He felt ...offended.

This was his boss; he shouldn't get angry, so he took a deep breath and calmed down "Sir, I believe we really need to think about changing this sanctuary for the better. We need to focus more on rehabilitating these monsters instead of just locking them up in enclosures. And for the Wingeds, they shouldn't even be locked up at all! They're just as intelligent as us and it's wrong to keep them like caged up like this!".

James huffed and ran a hand through his hair "What do you want us to do, Vincent? Release the Wingeds just like that?". Vince crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow "Yes".

"Alright well, I'll think about it. That's a lot to change and I've already got a lot on my plate?

Vincent uncrossed his arms and let out a breath of relief "Thank you sir. Could you cancel the shipment on that adult male Winged?".

"What? No. The truck's gonna be here in a few hours!".

"James, you can't take this creature away from his family. Please. I can help out with any issues; I'll do anything".

James paused a rubbed his forehead with his right hand, before exhaling a long breath out his nose "..alright. The Winged is located in the warehouse. Here's the key to its cage".

Vincent gave a gentle smile "Thank you sir" without another word, he took the key and left the building, heading down to the warehouse.