Chapter Text
Yao Luan took a deep shuddering breath, foot tapping against the floor as he nibbled on a finger. The bed beneath him shifted and sagged under his weight. He needed to calm down. Everything was fine, Yao Luan was just nervous about his first dive.
Then again, who wouldn't be nervous about being put in a submarine and sent tens of thousands of feet deep under sea level? Yao Luan certainly was, and any normal person would be as well.
"Hey! What are you waiting for, kid! Time to head down to the depths!"
Yao Luan flinched as his door was slammed open, a burly man in a suit standing in the doorway. Despite the glasses, Yao Luan could tell he was glaring at him. Alexander was strangely strict when it came to deadlines, or anything with a time limit, really.
Yao Luan tried to smile, really he did, but there was something about the way this guy was looking at him that had his hackles raising. Given that he was about to be sent to his death, Yao Luan thought he was entitled to being a little rude for once.
"Who cares?" Yao Luan grumbled, leaning back, he smirked at Alexander. "It's not like anything will change even if I'm a little late."
"You-"
"What the hell are you two doing?!"
Both Yao Luan and Alexander flinched at the woman's voice, Alexander stumbling back nervously as he made room for the blond woman to step into the doorway.
"I told you both to be on the bridge at 7 sharp, it's already-" a hand appeared at the edge of the doorway, holding a tablet up to eye level. "10 to 7! Even if you leave now, you'll both be late!"
"A-Ah, Juan-jie!" Alexander swallowed nervously. "I was just trying to get Wreck to-"
"Yao Luan," Wreck corrected instinctively. He had no problem with them using his villain name before, but since he was about to die, he figured the least they could do was use his actual name.
"-come to the bridge on time as well."
Miss J glared at him before turning her attention to Yao Luan. "Well, what's your excuse then?"
"I wanted to take a nap," Yao Luan offered, eyes flickering away before he straightened up and met Miss J's eyes. "I don't get why were on a schedule, this is a death sentence anyway."
Miss J took a moment to look Yao Luan over, a huff escaping her as she turned away. "This is not a death sentence, Wreck. It's an expedition, a chance at your dream.
"My dream?" Yao Luan mumbled, eyes furrowed as he watched Miss J walk off. Mouth opening and shutting in quick succession, Yao Luan groaned and chased after her. "Wait up! What are you talking about? What dream?!"
"That childish dream of being a hero," Miss J waved a hand, uncaring of the way Yao Luan froze behind him as one of the bodyguards, Oliver, if he recalled correctly, stepped forward and showed off an Ad, a very strange Ad with Yao Luan at the center.
'Wreck, old nemesis turned new-aged hero?'
It was surreal to see himself and the word hero in the same sentence.
"What…what is this?"
"A rebranding," Miss J snapped, adjusting her glasses as she turned around to glare at him. "One I worked very hard to make happen before you upset Director Shang," Yao Luan winced at that. "Now, the only way to ensure my work doesn't go to waste is for you to do your job and come back alive."
"I'm," Yao Luan took a shuddering breath, "I'm going to be a hero?"
"If you survive." Miss J agreed, waving for him to follow as she made her way to the bridge. "But if you die, I'll be sure to send one of these idiots down to revive you."
"Huh?" Behind him, Yao Luan could hear one of the bodyguards talking. "Wait, but I can't swim—"
"Who cares if you can swim?! If the guy with powers dies, what the hell are we going to do down there?!"
Ignoring them, Yao Luan sped up until he was walking just a step behind Miss J. The woman barely spared him a glance as she made her way down the twisting halls of Treeman's underwater mobile base.
"You're serious?" Yao Luan questioned, stumbling as she made a quick turn before righting himself. How she was doing this in heels was beyond him. "I can be a hero?"
"If you survive, but if you die, I have a whole list of people to replace you." Miss J stopped, and Yao Luan barely managed to stop himself from walking straight into her, smiling sheepishly under her glare as he backed up a few steps. He watched as she pulled out an ID and swiped it on the scanner before stepping through. "Don't make me regret giving you this chance."
Yao Luan was quick to chase after the older woman, steps echoing on the metal walkway as he rushed to follow her. How Miss J was avoiding the holes scattered across the grated platform was baffling, but wow, was she fast.
The bridge, as Yao Luan preferred to call it, was a hangar filled with Treeman's deep-sea expedition vehicles. The room was half submerged in water while the vehicle and mechs were suspended from steel cables at their designated walkways.
Now, why did a hero company based in a city hundreds of thousands of miles away from the sea have an underwater base? Yao Luan had no idea what he did know was his mission and what he'd done to get assigned here.
Apparently, Shang De didn't take kindly to back talk, nor Yao Luan saying his hair looked like a greasy rat.
…..Though it was Yao Luans' fault that he'd had one too many drinks that evening to let something like that slip out at a public charity event.
Why was he there to begin with? Free drinks and a planned mid-way hero fight to show off their new hero.
Yao Luan's eyes snapped back to Miss J as the older woman clambered into the submarine, not sparing a glance behind her. Checking over his shoulder, Yao Luan spotted the bodyguards rushing their way. Smirking to himself, he was quick to scamper up the stairs and jump into the opening, waiting just long enough for the bodyguards to get close enough to see the shit-eating grin on his lips before he dropped the whole way in and locked the gate behind him.
Turning around, Yao Luan went stiff at the unimpressed look on Miss J's face.
"You," Miss J's voice clicked as she glared at him for a moment before turning away. "Are a child."
"Soon-to-be-dead child." Yao Luan grumbled under his breath as he followed her deeper into the submarine.
"Focus, Wreck." Miss J pressed something on the wall. A moment later, a row of exposure suits appeared with matching air tanks for each one. "These are your suits. Once you're down there, we'll have no way to get you more, so try not to break them all."
"Uh, what about the air?" Yao Luan gestured to the noticeably small air tanks. "I don't think this will last the…" Yao Luan paused. "Wait, how long am I staying down there?"
"Until you figure out what exactly is making our scanners pick up those strange readings," Miss J adjusted her glasses, pushing the button down again before walking towards the cockpit. "The base you'll be landing in has enough air to last you a year. If we get no response by then, we'll assume you're dead and send someone down to replace you."
Yao Luan didn't bother to ask about any rescue missions, if it were a possibility, Miss J would have mentioned it, meaning as soon as he went down there, Yao Luan was completely on his own.
"You've been briefed on the equipment in the sub, but if you need a refresher, a manual has been left in the cockpit," Miss J gestured towards the open window surrounded by a myriad of buttons and equipment that Yao Luan barely had the technical knowledge to recognize. "Alongside your suits, the sub comes equipped with just over a thousand feet of line for exploration. The substation has around three times the amount, so ensure you collect enough before starting any expeditions."
Yao Luan nodded obediently, mentally running through the activation protocol for both the submarine and substation as Miss J pulled up one of the holographic screens.
"The Sub can navigate automatically to and from the station," Miss J swiped a finger across the screen showing a sonar map of the substation and surrounding trench. "Your first step is to ensure the substation is completely operational before setting out again."
"Wait, 'ensure' it's operational?" A bewildered look crossed Yao Luan's face. "I thought this station had been used before?"
"It has," Miss J straightened up, meeting Yao Luan's eyes as she spoke, "But this particular station hasn't been used in just over four years, so be grateful Director Shang allowed even this much consideration."
Consideration? Yao Luan barely held back from scoffing. Sure, sending him to his death on a barely functioning substation was definitely a type of consideration.
Like she could sense his thoughts, Miss J made sure to whack the distracted villain over the head as she passed.
"Ow!"
"There's a reason your costume has a mask, Wreck."
Pouting, Yao Luan rubbed at the painful spot with a quiet grumble of 'I have a name' before he followed along as Miss J finished the rest of the tour. All too soon, the two had arrived right back at the entrance to the sub, still sealed, and given the yelling Yao Luan could hear, the bodyguards still hadn't realized it could only be unsealed from the inside.
The two stood in silence for a moment, just listening to the muffled sounds coming from outside.
Yao Luan took a deep breath, choosing to ignore the way it got stuck in his chest as he turned to Miss J. He knew from experience that she didn't take kindly to someone wasting her time after all.
"I guess—"
"The station will loop past this exact spot for two hours in three-month intervals," Miss J cut him off, adjusting her glasses and turning away to climb out of the sub. "I expect to see you there the next time it happens, Yao Luan."
The woman unsealed the door, quickly being helped out by her guards and slamming the door behind her before Yao Luan could get a word out. Mouth opening and closing in quick succession as he processed what she'd just said.
Three months…..
Yao Luan needed to get results within three months to get out of here. It didn't sound like something Shang De would impose, meaning Miss J was probably sticking her neck out for him. Despite the situation, Yao Luan felt a smile spreading across his lips. In three months, he could do that.
'Bzzst! Bzzst!'
Hearing the radio buzz to life, Yao Luan quickly resealed the entrance and made his way over, settling into the captain's chair. He pulled the radio close, answering without a second thought. "Hello?"
'Bzzst! Bzzst—Wreck? Can you hear me?'
"Loud and clear," Wreck flipped a switch, pulling back to strap into his chair as he waited for instructions.
'Good, we're over the drop-off point now. Everything all set on your end?'
Yao Luan paused as the engine roared to life, placing one hand on the helm, he used the other to reply. "All good, am I clear to head off?"
'Yep! Bzzst! Once you hit three hundred feet below us, the auto navigation will take over. Bzzst! Bzzst!'
'Bzsst! Bzzst—Gates open! You have the go-ahead to head out, Wreck! Bzzst! Bzzst!'
Without another word, the radio fizzled out, reattaching the transceiver, Yao Luan piloted the submarine out of the open hangar doors before feeling the helm shift under his palm and pull back, an automated voice ringing out around him.
"Autopilot engaged. Estimated time till destination: 5 hours."
Leaning back in his chair, Yao Luan let the automated voice wash over him before he unbuckled himself and stood up. Miss J had shown him where the sleeping quarters were, so Yao Luan believed he was entitled to a nap after all of this.
He could think about ways not to go insane over the next three months after he woke up.
When Yao Luan finally arrived at the substation, the first thing to greet him was an overwhelming smell of sea salt and fish guts that had him gagging as soon as he hit the deck, eyes watering, Yao Luan covered his nose as he charged towards the hangar entrance, grabbing the handle with a free hand, Yao Luan would have cursed aloud if he didn't think he'd choke on the stench before he managed to get the words out.
Stumbling back a step, Yao Luan reached a hand out, a trail of black lightning fizzling to life across his arm before striking the door's lock. A moment later, Yao Luan was barreling through the door, gasping for breath as he slammed it closed behind him.
Yao Luan's back slowly slid down the door, taking large, greedy gulps of air as the nauseating smell died down.
It wasn't completely gone, but the 8-foot thick walls of metal did a wonder on damping the smell enough for Yao Luan to breathe.
Groaning, Yao Luan only managed to get himself another minute to recover, deciding to move again before the smell, much damper now, started overwhelming him once again.
Bracing a gloved hand on the wall, Yao Luan grunted as he forced himself bit by bit up the wall, the heavy gear he'd put on before leaving the submarine making it hard to move around.
Once he was back on his feet, Yao Luan finally took a moment to look around. Taking in the 'work of wonder' he was standing in.
It was a fucking wonder how this rusted tin can hadn't been flooded with water yet!
The walls had turned a grimy mix of browns and reds, flaking off and pooling in disgust pools of rust on the floor. A glance at his hand showed his gloves were covered in the stuff.
Patting them against his already dirty pants, Yao Luan made a mental note not to randomly sit down anywhere, he really didn't want to get tetanus because he didn't look where he was going before sitting down.
Miss J might actually murder him if that's how he died. Not to a sea monster, not to whatever fear-related mission he was sent on, but a rusty nail.
Reaching a hand up, Yao Luan quickly turned the flashlight in his helmet on. Suppressing a shiver at the way the singular beam of light was devoured by the darkness. The lighting was just out, and so was the air, and coms, and just about anything actually helpful.
For a moment, Yao Luan was half tempted to take the submarine and leave, give up the only shot he had at being a hero and whatever nightmare this was going to turn into, and just go to some far-off island where no one could find him.
The thought was quickly buried, though, because that wasn't possible. The submarine had an autopilot set to head straight back to the hub if it came above a certain altitude, meaning no matter what Wreck tried, he'd never get away without being caught, and he'd be in for a world of hurt a hundred times worse than whatever sick punishment Shang De had put him through till now.
Yao Luan took a deep breath, steeling himself before beginning the long trek down the dark hallway. He'd been forced to memorize a map of the sub-station during his time on the mobile deck, a fact he was beyond grateful for. Zero knows he'd have been stuck stumbling around in the dark for days otherwise.
He could practically hear Miss J snapping at him that, 'Nothing she's ever made him do was useless!'
Chuckling to himself, Wreck stepped further into the dark, shoulders hunching up as well as they could in the stiff suit. The suit was stiff and forced Wreck to strain under the weight of it, gasping and huffing until he was forced to rest against a nearby wall to make sure he didn't collapse.
Another reason for Miss J to kill him later if he actually collapsed and died like that. Why did Yao Luan care about that if he was already dead? Well, he had actually met Miss J and knew for a fact that she would and could bring him back to life just to kill him again if he pissed her off enough.
It took ages before Yao Luan finally hit the crossroads towards the main deck. Body overheating under the heavy rubber-insulated suit.
Glancing between both routes, Yao Luan quickly, horrifyingly, discovered a problem.
He didn't actually remember what route to take from here. One side would take him towards the control room to get the sub-station up and running, which meant Yao Luan could finally get out of this heavy suit, while the other would take him all the way down to the engine room.
Rolling his bottom lip between his teeth, Yao Luan hesitated as he looked between both hallways. It definitely wouldn't be that big a deal to pick the wrong route, but Yao Luan wanted to be free of this suit already. He was boiling to death in here!
Glancing between both paths, Yao Luan took a deep breath before shutting his eyes and taking a step to the left. If he picked the wrong route, then it was his own fault, maybe it was that bodyguard cursing him from the surface for being 'difficult.'
With a grumble, Yao Luan began making his way down the hallway, praying it was a short trip as he did.
And that he hadn't picked the wrong route, of course.
Stumbling through the darkened halls, Yao Luan couldn't help but think Shang De was laughing at him from his office. Maybe he'd even planned to send him down here from the moment they met.
An insane thought, but Yao Luan wouldn't put it past the bastard to be that vindictive.
Maybe he didn't like the way Yao Luan smiled and tried to shake his hand when they met, or maybe he was poor-phobic! Shang De hating poor people specifically fit really well in his mind….
As he kept coming up with new and stranger theories on how Shang De planned this, Yao Luan was forced to come to a stop soon after. At the end of the hallway was a half-opened door, surrounded by rusted, broken pipes that spewed out smoke, making Yao Luan cringe. He would have to figure out how to fix that, wouldn't he?
Above the door, a large sign read out: 'Command Center.'
Which was useful, and pretty odd. Yao Luan didn't think people who spent months, maybe even years at a time, down here would need to label all the rooms, but then again, Yao Luan wasn't there, so who knows, maybe this was a normal thing for sub-stations.
Taking a deep breath that echoed down the darkened, empty halls, Yao Luan slowly crossed the last few feet between him and the Command Center, his heavy body sliding in between the metal wall and door, already too exhausted to try pushing on the door while wearing this damned suit.
There were around six consoles scattered around the room, three chairs sat before the glass, spread out evenly across a large console that spanned the length of the glass wall, two were pulled back a bit further with their consoles placed in an odd V shape, before the final workspace sat above and between them, a single large console sat.
What any of those consoles did, Yao Luan didn't know. His job was only to turn the sub-station on and figure out what was going on down here, not try to fix a bunch of thirty-year-old consoles.
Grumbling under his breath, Yao Luan walked towards the main, and closest, console. Plopping down into the chair, Yao Luan let out a breath of relief at finally being off his feet.
One good thing about those in power, they were always lazy enough to put their stuff near the doors.
Unless they wanted to 'look cool,' and 'intimidating,' like Shang De tried to be, though Yao Luan thought he just looked dumb.
Taking a second to stretch his aching feet and rest for a moment, Yao Luan finally groaned and sat up, eyes scanning the console as he looked for anything that seemed familiar to what he'd been shown on the ship a few days ago. An engineer had been brought in to teach Yao Luan how to switch on the sub-station from the main console so that he didn't die from the pressurization down here without any air as soon as he took his helmet off.
Dragging a gloved hand down the console, Yao Luan tried to remember what exactly he'd been told before, only slightly regretting refusing the quick follow-up he'd been offered earlier that morning. In his defense, he'd been busy mentally prepping himself for his death sentence of an assignment!
Leaning forward, a familiar-looking symbol caught Yao Luan's eye. It was a cartoon heart placed loosely on an open palm, one of the symbols for a life support system! That was exactly what he had been looking for.
Smiling to himself, Yao Luan turned towards the left part of the console, scanning the buttons carefully before he found what he was looking for. Two switches with their own tapped-on labels covered faded ink that just barely spelled out the words: 'Oxygen Control Switch,' and 'De-pressurization.'
Without another word, Yao Luan flipped both switches. Deciding not to risk taking the suit off just yet, Yao Luan stood up and made his way towards the nearby console, searching for the sub-stations' light switch, and praying that he didn't have to head all the way down to the boiling engine room to do it.
Don't get him wrong, Yao Luan had been in way hotter places, like that one time he fought Firm Man in a volcano for some reason, but the difference now was that he really didn't want to and no one was paying him to do it, so if he could avoid it Yao Luan wanted to stay in the dark and dreary, probably freezing but his suit was insulated so he couldn't tell, halls.
Was he complaining too much? Oh well, not like there was anyone here to complain on his death sentence of an assignment—
Yao Luan rested his hands on the console, leaning all his weight on in as he took a very long deep breath through his nose before releasing it.
He really needed to calm down or he wouldn't be able to get any work done. Yao Luan knew that but it was still hard to force himself to do. Taking one more deep breath to calm his shaking hands and blink his eyes a few too many times to clear them, he finally took a step back to look over the console.
It was moments like these Yao Luan mourned his wasted architectural degree. Maybe he should have picked something like engineering, it would have been way more useful in his current line of work even outside of this assignment surprisingly.
Who knew super villains actually needed to know how their gadgets worked even if they weren't the ones building it?
Zero knows how many times Trerman sent Wreck in to deal with a 'prop gone wrong' because whatever hero they'd hired for the job was too incompetent to fix their own mess.
All Miss J's words, not his.
Glancing over the console, Yao Luan finally found the switch labeled power. Giving it a quick flip, he sighed in relief as the lights in the control room finally switched on.
Hopefully the rest of the stations lights had turned on as well….
Reaching up, Yao Luan happily switched his flashlight off, glancing around smugly at the oddly warm neon yellow lights flooding the room, from what he remembered, switching the lights on should also activate the exterior bulbs around the station, making it easier for him to keep track of his location and ensure nothing could 'sneak up on him,' as horrifying as that was at least now he can keep an eye out on, whatever they'd sent him to check out….
With that thought in mind, Yao Luan turned towards the window, frowning when he failed to see anything beyond the darkness glass. Had the lights outside break during the time the station was abandoned?
Wait, didn't that mean Yao Luan would have to go out there alone and in the dark?!
No way, it was one thing to move around a bright area, another entirely to wander around the very bottom of the ocean in pitch black darkness. Yao Luan would much rather take his chance with swimming his way back up to the surface than doing that!
Stomping forward in all his slowness, Yao Luan leaned over the central console to start furiously scrubbing at the glass, cursing Zero himself when it failed to show the bright lights that he should be seeing right now.
The glass let out a grating squeaking noise every time Yao Luan dragged his arm roughly across it. Using the thick fabric of his suit to scrape off whatever dirt was blocking his view.
After a few minutes of fruitless scrubbing and a pain in his arm from constantly rubbing against the glass and suit inner lining, Yao Luan couldn't take it anymore, with a roar he pulled his hand back and slammed it hard against the glass.
Yao Luan's body trembled lightly from the force of his anger, he was trying to stay calm, he was trying to keep it together but he can't. He can't stay calm when he think about how fucked it is that Shang De can just send him off to die whenever he wants! He can't calm down when he think about the fact that he's going to die down here, trapped and alone while hunting some stupid imaginary monster that Shang De probably created and then tossed down here just like Wreck!
He couldn't calm down when he thought about the pathetic death he was going to have, slowly choking to death once his oxygen supply ran out, if his food supply even lasted that long, and worst of all, he couldn't accept that no one would know, because Wreck was still active.
Wreck was fighting against heroes the day Yao Luan had been sent down here, because Wreck was a Treeman-owned villain, so when Yao Luan eventually died down here, no one would know, no one would even think, "Hey, where'd that villain ever go?" For just one second.
Because Wreck was alive, he was living and breathing in a way Yao Luan was no longer allowed to be.
A quiet, hiccuping sob escaped him, despite how hard he tried to hold it in, despite the fact that crying would solve nothing, that there was no one here to comfort him, he still cried.
Because he was scared, and alone, and wanted to go home despite knowing there was no one up there waiting for him, that there had never been.
That's what made him the perfect Wreck after all, always alone, no one to question him or wonder what he did for a living. No one to care about what Yao Luan was up to left him far more free time to be Wreck. The monster, Treeman's greatest villain.
Shoulders shaking, Yao Luan cursed inside his heart. He couldn't even wipe the tears away because this damned helmet was in the way. Sniffing quietly, Yao Luan desperately blinked back tears in an attempt to clear his vision. He still had work to do if he wanted any hope of returning to the surface.
Of following his dream….
Taking deep, long breaths, Yao Luan finally managed to clear his vision enough to see through the tears, eyes focusing on the shifting glass—
Wait, shifting?
Yao Luan's lifted his head, a look of confusion on his face as he took in the stationary darkness before him. From what Yao Luan knew, you shouldn't be able to see the ripples of movement beneath the waters surface.
Straightening up, Yao Luan sniffled the last of his tears away before pressing both hands against the glass. Leaning in closer to the glass, until the visor of his helmet was almost completely pressed against the glass, squinting into the oceans darkness in an attempt to catch a gimps of whatever that had been again.
Waiting with baited breath, Yao Luan watched in silence for a moment, and then another, after the third moment with nothing happened he let out a disappointed sigh and stepped away from the glass.
"What was I expecting?" Yao Luan grumbled under his breath with a shake of his head. "Why would there be anything out there—OH WHAT THE FUCK?!"
The darkness before him trembled before it suddenly pulled apart, revealing a giant, powder-blue eye staring back at him, the eye flickered about the pitch black sclera, the monsters cat-like silted iris shrinking before it let out a screech and pulled away from the window. A horrifying scream escaping the beast that told Yao Luan one singular thing.
It was time to go.
Taking a step back, Yao Luan shook lightly, stumbling back a few more steps before he froze. A large black shadow covering the window as a hand the size of the Command room, elongated dark nails pressed against the glass, creating cracks that spread bit by bit across the glass until suddenly, the glass gave way and the water started to pour in.
Without another thought Yao Luan turned and ran as fast as he could. Stumbling over his own two feet, Yao Luan almost slammed into the wall in his haste to escape from the incoming flood.
Yao Luan turned back to the door, seeing the way the giant arm flopped and floundered inside the Command Center he rushed forwards, grabbing the door handle as the water began to flood past the door and up to his ankles Yao Luan began to pull the door closed in desperation.
Groaning under the strain, Yao Luan desperately, painfully, managed to get the rusted door closed, sealing it shut with an exhausted gasp.
Beyond the seal Yao Luan could hear that thing screeching and roaring, stumbling back a step, Yao Luan decided he should go, now, like right now.
Turning on his feet, Yao Luan began stumbling back towards the crossroad, deeper and deeper into substation frantically, while ignoring the thing screaming behind him.
This was fine! Yao Luan could totally deal with a giant horrifying monster that probably wanted to eat him whole! He could handle that!
Listening to the screeches and screams behind him, Yao Luan let out a pathetic sounding whine as he kept moving. Everything was going to be fine! He just needed to hold on for three months, that's all, he could totally handle that!