Back in his lair, James looked down at the five adorable little rats that had just talked in adorable little squeaky voices, and oh god since when could they do that how in the-

"Daddy, fine?"

James focused on the lovely little cinnamon roll that was Goliath, towering over his siblings and yet doing the biggest puppy eyes James had ever seen in all of his lives.

"Ah, yes, thank you, Goliath. I... I'm just surprised. You can talk now. Whoa. Since when?"

Lucille was quick to answer, sensing her father's confusion and slight nervousness.

"Not long. While gone."

"Ah, I see. Uhm, I assume you are having some troubles speaking?"

Or maybe they just like speaking in broken speech or it's the result of some rat-accent. Who am I to judge?

Once more Goliath was quick to answer, dismissing James' doubts.

"Big words hard!"

Lucille let a small frown appear on her snout before following up.

"Sentences too."

Foudre nodded before adding in her own difficulties.

"Verbs complicated."

Blanche spoke next, apparently disheartened to be unable to speak properly.

"Proper grammar confusing..."

And finally, whereas his siblings all had a very valid and technical reason to have difficulties with their oral skills, David, his forepaws crossed on his chest, resumed his to a single word.

"Boring."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Disregarding David, the rest of them seemed really troubled by their inability to hold a proper conversation. James pondered for a second on how to make them feel better when he realized something.

"I see, I see. I mean, for people who didn't know how to articulate a single letter yesterday you are doing a wonderful job, you know."

There were not enough words in James' vocabulary to describe how quickly and powerfully the four little ones went from gloom and disappointment to sheer unfettered joy. He was pretty sure rats were not supposed to be able to have such complex facial expressions. Well, they weren't supposed to talk either, and yet here they were.

"Yeeeah!"

Foudre and Lucille just smiled at their brother's antics while Blanche adorned a smug grin and threw back the fur at the back of her head - which was definitely longer than before, by the way, almost like hair.

"Natural."

David did not share his siblings' positivity.

"Or people stupid."

"..."

"David, we really have to do something about your attitude."

David scoffed.

"No attitude."

"Yes attitude."

David turned around and glared at Lucille while Foudre nodded along, confirming her sister's diagnosis.

"Hm-hm, very attitude."

Blanche smirked before she added her own remark.

"Stupid David."

David, to this insult of the greater kind, only had one response, a counterattack known to all for its fearsome efficiency.

"You stupid."

"You stupid!"

"YOU STUPID!"

"Kids, stop. No one here is stupid."

"Yes, papa."

"Fine."

"By the way, I must ask... Why do you all think of me as your father?"

At that, multiple eyebrows were raised, including David's.

"Because... daddy is daddy?"

"Kids, I..."

James sighed as he slouched down.

"You do know that I'm not your real father, right? You should remember that, at your age."

They all nodded at that, Lucille speaking for them all.

"First father and mother. Fought spider. Died. Remember."

"Then, you know I'm just looking after you, right?"

Foudre nodded along despite a confused expression adorning her snout, not understanding what James was trying to imply.

"Like dad."

James couldn't help but flinch at the word.

"I'm more of a caretaker than a dad, I think."

At that, Goliath understood something.

"Daddy... No want us...?"

They all felt their heart miss a beat at that, especially James - despite not having a heart. Each tear that flowed down Goliath's snout hurt his very soul, and he quickly realized unease spread through the rest of the ratlings.

"No no Goliath, that's not what I said! It's just... I don't think you should see me as your father."

The ratlings were clearly not comforted by his words, and James did not doubt that very soon Goliath wouldn't be the only one crying.

"Old man scared?"

James had to do a double-take at that before focusing on David. The small young rat didn't seem to share the same panic or fear of rejection his siblings did. James didn't know how to answer, taking the time to think of different possible ways to explain himself in the best way possible before he cut himself short with an instinctual answer.

"Yes, David. Yes I am."

All of the ratlings were surprised at that. He had been their beacon of hope, their defender, the unmovable object and unstoppable force that had protected their home, saved their lives, and defeated terrific foes on his own, and yet... And yet here he was, saying he was scared.

"Look, you know I was human before I became... That. I don't know how long it's been since I ended up here but it's still recent, a month at most, and even then I think that's stretching it. Do you know how old I was? Twenty-two. I was barely a young adult, at this age humans can be adults but their kids are babies, they don't have developed minds as you do. I'm too young to have kids."

Goliath, still crying, couldn't understand.

"But... Daddy is daddy..."

David had his own take on the matter.

"Coward."

His looks could kill, then Lucille's death stare might have very well opened a hole in the fabric of time and space.

"David."

He continued, completely disregarding his sister's slowly rising bloodlust.

"You scared. You flee from frights. Flee from problems."

"David."

"You beat insect. You beat toad. Why flee humans? Why stay down?"

He had very good reasons to prefer flight to fight, very good reasons to stay hidden, reasons he would have absolutely no trouble listing-

"I-"

"You scared go up. Afraid."

"A perfectly reasonable-"

"You strong. Why think weak?"

"Because I'm not strong. You saw the kind of things up there that Captain Cyan fought didn't you?"

"Captain Hero. People no fight. You want people. You not Hero."

That... Was admittedly a pretty good argument.

"I..."

"Mind weak, afraid. Body strong, confident. Body fought for home. Think with body, not head."

Again, James couldn't deny he had been the one who proposed to go fight the two local sewer lords to put an end to the ambient pandemonium their war had wrought.

"David..."

"Strong, predator, but no attack. Why?"

Why...

James sighed before sitting down on the ground, holding his head with a pair of tentacles.

"David, you are a child. A rat child. You know nothing of life, of the things humanity is capable of when scared, angry, confused, or faced with the unknown. You have no idea what it is like to take care of you. You think I am strong? You think I can handle myself up there? Let me tell you one thing: the last time I was on the surface, I died."

The rest of the ratlings shared a collective gasp - James may have told them he was human before but never how he became what he was today.

"Someone stabbed me, just in the hope I had something they could steal, and then left me for dead, lying on the ground, my blood flowing out of my body, warmth, and coherent thoughts leaving me as the cold embrace of death grew closer and finally snatched me up, until for some reason it dropped me off here like this!"

He didn't know when but it appeared that at some point during his ranting he had gotten up and was gesturing wildly at himself.

"And this, David, was a guy with a knife. That was enough to kill me. And even if my world didn't have Cores and Supers, we had things that could do similar stuff. Things that wiped out cities. Hell, we only had one sapient species and yet we still found ways to hate each other for the most ridiculous of things!"

The ratlings didn't know how to react to that. Sure, they had seen humanity do bad things in Captain Cyan, but that was a TV show aimed at children, things were often glossed over or only implied and even then there always were Heroes to save the day. They never thought that maybe things worked the same up there as they did underground.

"What do you think would happen here? I, some unknown shadow monster, and you, a handful of intelligent rats. We wouldn't have a chance up there. Not now."

If we wait a few years and contact the press first, then maybe we'll have a chance at a normal life in some mutant-only facility or something. Maybe a not-evil-but-too-creepy-to-be-a-functioning-member-of-society residential area?

"Barry. Larry. Weak, yet surface. Live. Faced fear."

"They survived because they grew up in this world. As for them coming down here, that was plain stupidity. Idiocy doesn't help anyone."

"Courage."

"There is a difference between facing your fears and ignoring all safety protocols and your survival instincts."

"But lived!"

"Because I was there!"

"Heroes there!"

"NO ONE WAS THERE FOR ME!"

They all flinched at his outburst. Even James himself was caught off-guard. Hell, he didn't have any lung or respiration system, and yet here he was, feeling out of breath with his chest inflating and deflating in an obvious manner. He had to take a few seconds to calm down before he spoke once more.

"No one was there for me, David... I died afraid and alone. You were lucky to have me, like those two idiots were, but I won't have this luck. Besides, the only thing up there is the slums. We'd have to explore more of the sewers to find an exit leading to the good parts of the city and we don't know what kind of monsters are roaming through those tunnels."

"We there for you."

He had no idea how to respond to that, even less coming from David.

"You are children, David. I can't just dump all of my worries and stress on you. You are a pretty big part of my worries and stress."

"Family. Pack."

"We..."

We're not a family, David. I'm not. You five should never have been under my care, you should be with other rats, you should-

Be with other rats.

Pack.

"If... If you wish, there is a rat pack who approached me not so long ago."

All of their ears perked up at that.

"You could, with other rats, form a true pack and-"

"No."

"No."

"No!"

"No!"

"No."

"You... Are you sure? You could be with others of your kind and-"

"Pack not kind."

"Pack is family."

"Family is us."

"Daddy is family!"

"We stay. Your problem."

"You... You..."

And here they stood, five young rats and their somewhat human caretaker, neither side daring to move...

Until they all rushed into each other's arms and forepaws and shared a big hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm just... I just want you to have a good home."

"Big home!"

"Much food!"

"Protection."

"Kill stuff."

"Family! Us! You!"

And so James embraced his fatherly duties as he embraced those five adorable little furballs, holding those pure, innocent children-

"Go kill stuff now?"

-those cute and wild children, realizing that maybe, just maybe, he could be a good dad. One that would raise them correctly and who knows, maybe he could even help them become Heroes.

What a silly thought.

"You know what? Fine. I'll be your dad. The best dad these sewers will have ever seen."

"Daddy is best daddy!"

James chuckled as he formed a limb to pet Goliath's head, making sure to form a pair of small pointy appendages to scratch him behind the ears and, judging by the thumping paw and his siblings' jealous stares, James was apparently doing something very right. It didn't take long for four new tentacles to form and begin petting and scratching the rest of the ratlings, Lucille taking care to keep a certain decorum whereas David was doing his best not to show any form of enjoyment.

Seeing them like that, James thought that maybe being a dad wouldn't be so bad.