Mystic Mansion (Nick + Goro)

Goro was not a fan of most holidays, honestly. Christmas never held any kind of meaning to him besides the centre of bitterly cold winter months, and Easter was simply ridiculous. Guy Fawkes Night was almost an exception; while he hadn't been exactly allowed to celebrate it and he found the sentiment of the holiday disgusting, the idea of dedicating a day every year to ridiculing a single man's failure was entertaining in a way.

Halloween was the worst of all, though. His Quirk meant that no matter how distanced he was from actually taking part in the holiday, people would simply assume he was some overly enthusiastic trick-or-treater. He even hated the weeks surrounding Halloween; having to live every day being constantly reminded that 'Halloween's not until next week!" or "Halloween was yesterday, idiot." It almost felt like a holiday invented specifically to make his life miserable.

And, of course the most activity during Halloween was at night time. The one thing Goro usually had to himself, the one safe haven away from the inane garbage he'd hear around the holiday would be robbed from him every year without fail.

At the very least, back in England, Halloween was always avoidable. Mother made her hatred of it no secret either, so as long as he stayed inside for... most of October and sometimes September it would pass by. But here in Japan, he had no such luck. The suspicious nature of the party itself, the whole reason Goro had been ordered to go, almost fell to the back of his mind behind the misery of the holiday itself and the frankly offensive costumes he'd seen on the way there. He pitied any other mutants who'd decided to see what all the fuss was about; every shitty vampire costume he saw reminded him of how corrupt, how fucking awful the world was.

It didn't help that the cape (or, whatever it was, a cowl, maybe?) of his own costume kept slipping under his feet and almost tripping him. He'd at least found one that hadn't included a poorly moulded, probably toxic set of plastic fangs, but simply wearing any type of vampire costume at all made seething hatred bubble in his gut. Dressing normally would attract more attention than having some kind of garbage costume, and considering how many partygoers seemed to be intoxicated already even his nausea blended in with the usual alcoholics puking in the streets.

He wasn't sure if the sight of Nick's horrible disguise was some kind of relief from his own misery or a harbinger of worse to come. He pushed his way through the crowd just enough to get a proper look at him and... He didn't have a costume. At all. Did he think his disguise would count? Or did he not even care about being inconspicuous? He must've noticed that he stuck out like a sore thumb already, why was he even here? Yet again, they ran into each other in such a crowded area that Goro couldn't even try to get his revenge.

"Sam?" He yelled, loud enough that he knew Nick would hear him over the crowd. Even if physical pain was off limits, there were other ways he could torment his dear brother. Goro already expected Nick would ridicule him for his costume; even with his distain for vampires, Goro knew sequins weren't exactly vampire cape material, and the 'suit' was just an itchy t-shirt with a poorly printed design of a suit on it. But holy shit, at least no one was staring at HIM. Let Nick make fun of it, Goro could think of quite a few perfect comebacks already.

It was nigh-impossible to keep a smug grin off his face as Goro heard his brother groan. Finally, some relief from this horrible night. He could forget all about how awful the universe was treating him because at least Nick had it worse-

Then, Nick started laughing at him. Goro had half-expected as much, but the humiliation still stung like nothing else. His grin vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but he had enough self-control left to not huff in anger. Whatever. No matter how painful they'd been at the time, the couple hours he'd spent making sure he had some kind of comeback for when his costume inevitably became an object of ridicule from some direction hadn't gone to waste after all.

He strode through the crowd as quickly as he could, pushing a couple drunkards aside with his wings as he did so, until he was right next to Nick. "I could say the same thing, your costume is just as ridiculous. I mean, you honestly think you can pass as a functioning human being?" His voice was cold and quiet, and any trace of smugness was gone from his face.

Now they were together, Goro wasn't about to let Nick flee from him. If he was going to make it through the night without dying of sheer embarrassment and hate, he'd need Nick around to torture. But, no matter how drunk or tired the people around them were, a straight-up fight would attract too much attention. He needed to get Nick somewhere where Goro would be at an advantage, somewhere dark and harder to run away in...

His line of sight drifted over to the haunted house that this horrible mess was centered around. He'd never been in one of those insulting setups, and didn't really have any interest in them at the present moment either. They certainly weren't the worst aspect of Halloween, but for someone who had zero trouble sensing in the dark they seemed like a waste of time. However, from what he knew of haunted houses, it'd certainly be better than staying outside like this.

"Sam, there you are! Didn't you say we were going to the haunted house?" He said as loudly as possible, sure to be heard by most of the crowd around them. Then, he leaned in a little closer and hissed into Nick's ear, "If you want me to tear that wig off your head right now and call the cops, go ahead and try to leave."

Goro had been, perhaps, a little overconfident. He hadn't thought Nick would have the balls to hit him out in the open, so he hadn't been at all prepared for it. Nick's fist connected directly with Goro's privates, and in Goro's reflexive attempt to scream all that came out was a small, pathetic squeak. It took considerable effort to avoid doubling over in both pain and shame, and worse still Nick had turned Goro's ploy back on him so he couldn't even fight back. He forced a grin onto his face while fighting the tears of pain threatening to spill out.

At the very least, they were still headed for the haunted house though, so not everything was going to shit. By the time they'd almost reached the entrance, the pain had mostly gone, though Goro's voice was still a little shrill from... the area Nick had hit. Despite that, he still tried to snap back at him. "Oh, I'm sure you'll do great in there..."

Thank God it was free entry, there was absolutely no way Goro would pay to get in, especially when everything had gone so poorly already. He didn't have all that much money on him now, and using what was left for frivolous shit like this is the last thing he wants to do.

Every moment Nick was making contact with him, Goro felt like he was dying a little more inside. He desperately wanted to just grab his arm and break it in two, but even in the dark of the house itself that'd be too much. Someone would notice, and Goro wasn't in any mind to deal with Tokyo cops again so soon.

The entrance itself was pitch black, exactly as Goro had hoped. No one else was entering at the same time as them either, it seemed he'd at least lucked out timing-wise if nothing else. He swallowed the bile rising in his throat as they entered the mansion.

The first room was laughable from his perspective. For most guests, the cheap fake cobwebs suspending equally cheap plastic spiders from the ceiling would be a little startling thanks to how poorly lit the room was, but Goro could feel them before he'd even entered. He wasn't exactly impressed by the ridiculous animatronic skeleton waiting near the door to the second room either. There seemed to be a couple spotlights placed at its 'feet', that he presumed would turn on when some poor sap got close enough. Probably had some shitty speakers set up to "enhance" it as well.

Once the two brothers were a good distance away from the door, Goro wrenched Nick's arm away from his shoulder, trying to keep a grip on his wrist as he used his other hand to try and deck Nick square in the nose. He just couldn't fucking take it anymore.

"God, FUCK YOU! Don't fucking touch me, you disgusting failure!" Goro's voice cracked slightly as he screamed in frustration. He probably sounded like a whiny, pathetic bitch but it was hard to care about anything besides getting revenge for his balls at the moment.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Nick didn't have any issue dodging his punch, and Goro stumbled a couple feet forward as he let go of Nick's wrist. He managed to catch himself seemingly just before he fell into range of the animatronic skeleton. Thank God for that, considering how embarrassing this whole attempt had been, having some kind of lazy jump-scare sound punctuate his failure would've been too much for him.

Goro spun around the moment he got his balance back. There was no way he was letting Nick get another cheap attack on him today, the first one was humiliating enough. However, as he spun, his costume's cape fluttered behind him into the skeleton's radius, and it jumped to 'life'. Goro heard it start to move a split second before the speakers blared an obnoxiously shrill scream right behind him, so he at least didn't jump, only flinch for a moment. He rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the animatronic as he replied to Nick.

"Personally, I'd love to. I'm sure it'd turn out the same way as last time though, so I'm sure you wouldn't want to." He smirked as the memory of his foot colliding with Nick's face replayed in his head. Goro was mindful that the haunted house probably had cameras, but just roughing Nick up probably wouldn't cause much grief for him considering how much of the crowd outside seemed to be inebriated. Drunks fighting in the haunted house wouldn't be anything new to the mansion security.

Goro's wings were tightly wrapped against his back now, in his best attempt to not trigger the awful screaming again, and yet the skeleton continued to move. There was something off about it though, something genuinely off-putting about it's cheap, jerky movements, and yet Goro couldn't figure out what it was. He didn't want to take his eye off Nick to try and figure out what it was, either, in case Nick took the chance to hit him back.

"Where'd you get that awful disguise anyway? I can't imagine Mother would approve of you using the Underground's money on that garbage. Did you steal it out of a dumpster?" The usual smugness in Goro's voice thankfully hid his concern about the thing behind him. It'd been far too long since he'd triggered it, why was it still moving? And, was it just his imagination or had it taken a step forward?

The same shrill screech as before echoed through the room again, this time not due to any fault of Goro's. No one else had gone in right before or after them, and the door hadn't opened, so no one else could've stepped into its radius. The only conclusion he could draw was that the skeleton had somehow set itself off.

A mocking statement about the mansion's poor design was cut off before it could leave his mouth as the skeleton suddenly lurched right for Goro, much faster than it'd been a second ago. He'd managed to avoid the skeleton grabbing his arm, only for it to instead seize one of his wings in its boney plastic hand. Goddamn it, why were its fingers so sharp? The tips were just very pointed plastic, not sharpened steel, yet with Goro already on edge the pain felt roughly the same. Goro flapped widely trying to free his wing from the atrocious animatronic's grip. After a few tries, he succeeded, but not without the skeleton leaving slight claw marks down the limb's leathery surface in the process.

He jumped back again, now standing almost next to Nick. "They didn't make us sign waivers on the way in! How can they be doing this shit?" Now that he was looking at it face-to-face, he finally realized why the robotic cadaver's movements had been bothering him so much. It was cheap-looking and top-heavy, but somehow it had stepped from the platform it'd been suspended on and was now standing freely on the wooden floor.

"Is this some kind of joke of a security system meant to deal with unruly visitors?" Goro muttered, pushing his glasses up. "If not, what the fuck is it?"

"It took me by surprise, that's all! I'm not scared of it, it was just a cheap jumpscare. Flinching doesn't mean I'm scared of it!" Goro replied indignantly, rubbing the scratched part of his wing. He didn't get much of a chance to shoot back at Nick verbally as the other two skeletons lumbered into range of his echolocation. He hadn't picked up on them until they were already lunging for him; they must've been waiting behind the door, damn it!

Tinny screams played on loop from the corner the first skeleton had been mounted, as the animatronics continuously set it off. Goro was beginning to get accustomed to the awful noise, but even so it still hurt his ears like nothing else. The crappy quality speakers didn't help matters.

"Surely, this kind of set up can't be legal! They'd have needed to make us sign waivers at the door!" Goro's complaining was cut off by a yelp as the other approaching skeleton half-tore its body from its legs leaping for him. He just barely managed to roll out of the way in time, his wings now firmly tucked under his cape and out of grabbing distance. As he got back to his feet, he quickly swept his leg low enough to catch the skeleton's feet and knock it to the ground.

The robot crashed to the ground, a couple ribs from its cheaply glued-together ribcage breaking off and sliding across the polished wooden floor on impact. It made an attempt to push itself off the ground, but Goro's foot on what remained of its spine kept it more than weighed down.

Considering the flagrant illegality of just about everything that had happened so far on the haunted house's end, a little property damage seemed only fair. There was another candlestick just out of Goro's reach in his current position, so he had to lift his foot for just a moment to grab it. In that split second, the animatronic finally got back on its feet, only to immediately crash back onto the ground as the candlestick smashed its hollow skull into tiny plastic pieces.

The other skeleton was after Nick for the moment, so Goro had a moment to breathe. A quick examination of what remained of the shattered animatronic at his feet yielded nothing helpful; there were exposed circuits within the skull, but nothing he could tamper with, and as far as he could see the animatronic didn't have a clear power switch. Otherwise, they were typical animatronics, though Goro could now confirm for sure that they weren't made to be walking around like this, let alone attacking guests.

Far be it from Goro to actually help Nick, but the twitching plastic ghoul could suddenly shift its focus back to Goro at any moment, and he didn't want to let it have the chance. The candlestick he'd just used had broken in half from the previous impact, and was now too short to reasonably swing at any heads, plastic or otherwise, but it had left a nice jagged edge perfect for stabbing. Trying to tread as lightly as possible in case the skeletons themselves also had motion sensors, he crept up on the one that Nick hadn't already bashed, broken candlestick at the ready.

"Neither am I." Goro replied to Nick's quip about property damage. "It's their fault they can't keep control of their own decor." He'd noticed Nick's displeasure at his quick takedowns of the animatronics, but for once there were more important matters than riling his brother up.

Biting back a retort to the nerd comment, Goro instead began analysing the situation. "Indeed, the basic circuitry inside doesn't suggest a great deal of movement. Obviously, their actual movements are automated, but the modifications necessary for something of this scale aren't the kind someone would just leave to run without oversight. Whoever did this is likely still in this building, and-" He adjusted his glasses as he kneeled to look over the most intact skeleton, "-they must have some kind of maintenance access to the mansion. We won't find them in any room a visitor should be."

The plastic exterior on the animatron was easy to crack open, and the robotics underneath immediately answered one of Goro's questions. Just below where the heart would be in a human ribcage was a small transmitter, wired into the controlling circuit for the skeleton's mechanical joints. Further inspection revealed the eyesockets of the skull held motion-sensing cameras, which also fed back to the controls.

"Unfortunately, with this kind of setup, nothing short of breaking each individually or disabling the computer these transmitters recieve commands from will shut these things down. There's no way to remotely disable whatever other units are active from here, or even get a total active units counts." Goro stood back up and dusted off his silken trousers, clutching the transmitter in his right hand. "The bastard has manual control transmitters in the robots, so they aren't just reliant on automation."

Nick may be all too willing to go ahead and take revenge on the disgusting whelp responsible for the animatronic assault, but Goro was hesistant. He hadn't come prepared for the situation, and their attacker certainly had the upper hard. As Nick crept closer to the next room, Goro turned back to the entrance, only to stop dead in his tracks.

The doors, which had been held open for oncoming guests and anyone cowardly enough to need an immediate exit, had been slammed shut at some point. How cliche; being attacked in a haunted mansion and the exit is mysteriously locked. Even knowing it would likely yield nothing but more frustration, Goro still made an attempt to pry the door open, only to give up the moment he heard the door catch against a lock on the other side. "We're locked in, by the way." He called over, irritation seeping into his voice.

The next room was just as dark as the first, lit only by a few fake candles that only gave a proper view of the ceiling above them and not much below. The other skeletons had definitely come from within, so at least two threats had already been extinguished. Even from the doorway, Goro could hear a suspicious humanoid shape within, directly across from the entrance and definitely not another skeleton.

It was larger, bigger than your average man, and the surface covering its metal mechanisms was not plastic bone but a facsimile of fur. Goro stalked over to just behind Nick, and quickly lobbed the broken candlestick toward the darkness, intent on ripping a hole in the robot before it could activate.