Pitch and Kathryn got to enjoy their honeymoon before they both returned to work. Things continued to become busier as cases continued to increase with the percentage of hybrids continuing to rise. The regularity of cases was even higher now then when Abe was creating the original signal and resources from other locations in the state were being diverted to New Arkham. However, despite the increase of workload and Black Eagle’s depending on Pitch's help more than ever, he didn't really put much thought into the cases he worked.

  All of Pitch's mental energy was elsewhere, and this only got worse as August arrived and campaign advertisements for the upcoming presidential election in November approached. Thomas Marrow was doing well in the initial polls and a lot of election predictions were confident that he'd not only do well in the election, better than any independent before, but that there was a genuine chance he'd win making history as the first independent or third party candidate to win a presidential election since George Washington.

  This made Pitch nervous as he still didn't understand the motive behind the move, and seeing the other options unfortunately didn't give him any confidence. On one side was a sly talking lawyer who genuinely wanted to restore America to an idealized version of the fifties and its white picket fences that only existed in sitcoms and on the other was a governor who was a soft closeted third wave feminist who regularly acted like an entitled Karen in public. Another election year where it felt like the candidates with the strongest backing were equally not great options and swung too far to one side of the political spectrum.

  This only made Marrow’s more middle ground approach and promise to put funding towards finding the source of the increase of mysterious disappearances and deaths throughout the nation stronger. Pitch still couldn't figure out the endgame of the entire thing either. The guy was already making money off Cryptids by making the weapons used to fight them and owning the labs that made discoveries leading to new technologies. Sure, there was that thing where it looked like he was building the groundwork to a Cryptid powered energy network that he now couldn't complete but up till now everything he was doing fit the bill of corporate greed driven motivation.

  Granted it did feel a bit weird he was so callously willing to use Cryptids as a resource considering he, in some ways, was one. But then again since the ones he exploited weren't sentient, it wasn't much different then using animals. Even the creation of hybrids could simply just be him trying to create some sort of bioweapon. Illegal for numerous reasons, but still potentially profitable. So why, why set his business aside for a presidency? Was it as simple as the reason he gave on day one? That there were simply some roadblocks he could more easily handle as president.

  He said his goals were to make a better tomorrow today, but for who? Was it all for the sake of his other Doppelgangers? Humanity? Or was this simply a long con for him to be able to make more money after his run and return to his company? The fact Pitch couldn't read the guy, even in person after meeting him at a local rally, simply worried him more. Pitch was an empathy of sorts, reading people was sort of his thing. A person can lie, but they can't hide their emotions. At least that was usually the case. However, even shaking the man's hand resulted in nothing but static background noise for Pitch.

  With no solid evidence to slow or even stop the progress and no clear idea of what Marrow’s final goal was, he continued to gain ground. When November came he was not just a strong contender but many said he was the clear choice of winner. Pitch watched the election more closely than any he had ever watched before. He watched as state after state handed in their final results. Although it was far from a clean sweep, the gap in the final vote wasn't exactly close either. The final announcement was made official; come next year, after being sworn in, Thomas Marrow would be the forty eighth president of the United States of America.

  Pitch felt frustrated and defeated, not just because Marrow won, but because he still didn't understand why the man ran in the first place. There wasn't much he could do about it other than keep working until he could figure out a way to stop Phobos and put an end to the new signal. As bad as Marrow potentially was, he wasn't going to end the world if left unchecked. Pitch took things from a case to case basis, with most of the cases being fairly easy.

  Since Pitch didn't have to worry about hiding his true form anymore, if things got too hairy he could always bust it out. However, Pitch had gotten so good at fighting in his human form with light alterations to the point he rarely needed to go all out. The fact only a few other Cryptids could hurt him meant Pitch was on the front line often. If there was anyone in his squad with doubts about him, they were minimal or outright let go of them. This didn't stop Director Hawkes from going through reports with a fine tooth comb looking for anything to reprimand Pitch for.

  “You know, you'd think with him having long accepted Marrow as a necessary evil when he was just a Doppelganger who owned the company that made their weapons, he'd ease up at least a little on me.” Pitch complained to Anderson as they sat in the break room of the Black Eagle headquarters. Anderson shook his head. “Unfortunately not. Despite your increased workload necessitating you waiting here between deployments sometimes like you're a full time member, it seems Hawkes still regards you as a threat. The only reason he hasn't gotten rid of you yet is because there's an even bigger threat.”

  Pitch sighed. “I'm a god damned newlywed, all I want to do is spend time with my wife. But instead I'm sitting here with a bunch of people in armor who are equipped to kill me if the need ever arises.” Hammer came over and sat down. “It's bullshit considering Hawkes doesn't treat other sentient Cryptids, Hybrids, or even myself who was infested with an ancient Cryptid virus with the same scrutiny. The guy seems to have it out for you specifically for some reason, more so then the rest of us. You'd think Ishwada would be the only one with the right to needlessly hate on you considering you're the same species as the thing that killed his kid.”

  Pitch groaned. “Yeah, but I'm not the thing that killed his kid and he knows that. Hell, I helped kill that fucker that actually did it. I've more than earned Jiryu’s trust by now, same with a majority of the squad. If I wanted to cause problems and kill people, I would have definitely done it by now.” Anderson chuckled. “Maybe try not saying that so loudly though.” Hammer nodded in agreement. “I highly doubt people want to be reminded of exactly what you are capable of.”

  Pitch groaned once again. “This is such a pain in the ass. Though honestly, even though he hates me, at least Hawkes is an open book. I can't even get a read on Marrow. I just can't seem to get a feel for his emotions and I know it's not because he's a Doppelganger. I have little issue reading Cryptids compared to humans. Hell, it's often easier considering their origin.” A buzzer goes off and Ishwada's voice is heard over the intercom. “We've got another potential case, Anderson, Black, Hammer, you take point.”

  The two humans put their helmets on and the three of them select a few other people to deploy with them. Pitch chuckled. “I guess this must have been how things were before Jiryu started handling cases personally. It's a shame he's been too busy dispatching teams to join us on the field lately.” The geared up group loaded into a Humvee with a second group in a containment vehicle. They set out to respond to the potential Cryptid activity.

  They get to the scene and it's almost mastalgic in a dark way as they find police tape and cops around a corpse rather than a trail of bodies and or destruction. Pitch goes to talk to deputy Mann who was on the scene. The body was inside a house. “So outside the strange marks this one doesn't look that strange. I only called it in because of the high activity lately. Since I can't identify the markings, my first thought is something abnormal.”

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  Pitch took a closer look at the body. There were strange holes where it seemed like the flesh had been torn out and the victim was missing their teeth and their mouth was scratched up and bloody. “Well if this is a Cryptid, I think I have an idea as to what. From what I can tell, whatever attacked had no interest in the flesh. It was after the bones. The teeth go first because they are exposed. This is the MO of a monster known as a Tooth Fairy, something thought to be long extinct.”

  Anderson hummed. “Well it's a good thing one of us studied up on Cryptids, because I didn't know Tooth Fairies were real.” Pitch chuckled. “Yeah, but instead of buying teeth they eat teeth. To be more accurate they eat bones but since teeth are the easiest to get they go their first. We might have to fumigate the building with holy water, because I'm not entirely sure how they nest. The files aren't exactly up to date since the last encounter was back when Black Eagle was still Black Flag.”

  Hammer whistled. “That's a long time with a reported encounter. I'll grab the fumigation equipment. Hopefully that takes care of it.” He then looked around. “Hmm… thought I heard something. We should finish this up quickly.” Once the group had the gear they started spraying the building with holy water like they were spraying for mold or bugs. As they were working, Pitch heard a buzzing noise and stopped spraying for a moment.

  After a bit of listening the buzzing became a furious cacophony of buzzing as several small winged creatures suddenly swarmed Pitch. Small holes opened up in his skin as small tendrils lashed at the creatures, taking several out and causing the rest to flee. “I feel like this will be a pain. Not because they're deadly, or durable, but because they're hard to hit.” Pitch said out loud to himself as he continued to spray the building.

  Eventually he was attacked again, this time all the fairies went in one direction and Pitch followed them. They flew into a door that was slightly ajar and were no longer in sight. Pitch swung open the door to find an empty closet. Pitch looked for holes in the wall, but didn't see anything. He quickly sprayed the closet out but there was no new attack for doing so. “That's weird.” Hammer turned a corner and spotted Pitch. “I finished my section.” Anderson came in from the other direction. “I'm all done on my end.”

  Pitch squinted at the closet before closing it. “I'm also done, but some of them escaped. I didn't manage to catch any alive either. I guess the corpses will have to be enough.” He went back to collect the dead bodies of the fairies only to find the little corpses he had left behind were gone. Only small black blood spots remained. “Okay, I suddenly feel gaslit.” Pitch said in a frustrated tone. He then returned to the closet and reached his hand into it, the hairs in his arm standing on end. “...Shit…” Pitch cursed under his breath.

  Anderson and Hammer looked at one another, slightly confused. Pitch detected this and explained: “The boundary between worlds is slightly weak here, allowing things to skip into and out of the fear realm easier. I'm going to have to spray it more and hope that fixes it.” Pitch opened one of his drinking bottles and splashed it into the closet. “Hopefully that's enough to keep stuff from slipping through. If we didn't catch it, bigger things would have likely started to slip through.”

  The group had done everything they could, all that was left was to write a report and go home. Pitch arrived home feeling oddly tired and wanting a nap. His feet dragged as he came through the doorway. He was quickly treated by a tall, muscular, dark skinned woman with four arms. Her arms and legs were covered in blond-tan fur to the halfway points, her hands and feet were clawed and webbed. She had a set of cat ears on her head. The hair on her head was dirty blond, short, and choppy. She wore a choker with a gem in it, a sleeveless cropped shirt, and shorts. “Welcome home.” The woman's deep but feminine voice had an air of respect to it.

  Pitch waved weakly before setting down hard in a reclining chair. “Hey Kasa.” He managed despite his obvious exhaustion. “Is Kat home yet?” Kasa shook her head. “Not yet, but she did call to let me know she was on the way.” She walked over and sat next to the chair. Pitch started scratching her head between the cat ears making Kasa smile as she lightly pushed into it and started making soft purr noises. “You know, I was expecting you to stop doing this once you returned to a more human form.”

  Kasa’s body shifted to be more anthropomorphic looking more like a were-felid. “I can only hold my most human form for a short time, this form is a bit easier to hold. Even then I often have to return to my cat-like body. It's an improvement though, so there's that.” Pitch hummed as he continued to scratch Kasa's head. “That didn't address the fact that you enjoy being pet like a cat.” Kasa mewed lightly. “I guess I've simply grown accustomed to it. Besides, it's the only physical affection I'm getting right now.”

  Pitch let out a sigh and got up. “I'm going to get some sleep. I'll see you later.” He dragged his feet all the way to the bed, plopped in, and resumed his true form before dozing off. As he sank into sleep, Pitch quickly found himself dreaming. He found himself standing in the hallway of a hospital. The building looked empty and there was no one else in the halls. Pitch looked at his hands, he was in his human form in the dream. He shrugged and started walking aimlessly.

  Pitch passed by several empty rooms when he became aware of a faint sound in the distance. With no real goal he started moving towards it. As he drew closer he realized it was the sound of a child screaming for help. Pitch burst into a sprint, following the cries till he reached a room with curtains over the windows that the sound was coming from. He opened the door to find a kid restrained to a hospital bed, struggling hard against the straps as doctors looked over him. The child looked and felt familiar, but Pitch couldn't quite place it.

  The moment Pitch thought about the familiarity of the child he realized the hospital itself felt eerily familiar to him. Even the situation itself gave Pitch an odd sense of deja vue. He didn't give himself that much time to think, as when he saw one of the doctors pull out a scalpel his body reacted and he ran in knocking down one of the doctors. He then punched a second knocking him out.

  The remaining doctors tried to detain Pitch but his reflexes were simply to fist. He easily evaded being grabbed and knocked out the remaining three doctors. He then turned his attention to the kid who was just staring at him, trying to figure out how he knew the kid. “I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but I got a sinking feeling those doctors weren't exactly on the up and up. I mean they didn't even try to sedate you.” The kid whimpered. “T- thanks for that. They were going to dissect me.”

  Pitch brushed himself off before grabbing the scalpel himself. “I'm going to cut those restraints. What's your name kid?” Pitch quickly released the child who rubbed his wrists. “It's James.” Pitch's eyes widened as the realization hit him. He's had this dream before, but from the kid's perspective. At one point as a kid he thought he might get dissected in a lab if he ever admitted to feeling like the monster he was told wasn't real had left something behind. It was one of his recurring nightmares along with reliving the deaths that monster caused. However, in those dreams no one ever saved him.

  Pitch pointed to the door. “Go on and get out of here kid, I'll make sure you aren't followed.” Young James nodded and started running off. Pitch left the room and watched as the kid sprinted down the empty hallway and put the exit without any trouble. When Pitch looked back at the room again the curtains were opened and the room was completely empty. Pitch looked in his hand and noticed even the scalpel was gone. He shrugged and continued to explore the building.

  “I wonder why the dream hasn't shifted to something else yet. That was my only nightmare involving a hospital.” Pitch spoke to no one in particular as he continued down the hallway. He turned a corner and was knocked to the floor after bumping into someone that came out of nowhere who was also knocked on their ass. After shaking himself off he noticed it was Kathryn. “He stood up and offered his hand only for her to spring up on her own with a lot of energy and a sparkle in her eyes.

  As Kathryn spoke her body had a high amount of energy but her voice was practically a whisper. “I know you're asleep, and probably can't hear me right now, but I simply couldn't wait.” Pitch felt a strange pressure in his chest followed by a slight warmth. “Ah, you must actually be home and just climbed into bed with me. Too bad I can't tell you I can hear you right now.” Kathryn continued, not responding to what Pitch said. “We did it, I finally got a positive test result.” Pitch could feel Kathryn nuzzling up in the bed as the pressure in his body moved and she continued to talk. “You are going to be… a father.”

  Pitch smiled as the warmth increased, the feeling of moving pressure stopped moving and the Kathryn that was in front of him slowly faded away. “Eh? I guess she passed out right away like I did. I guess I'll just have to wait for her to wake up to continue the conversation.” Pitch started walking again when he heard Kathryn screaming in pain. Once again he bolted in the direction of the sound causing him to burst into a room with a heavily pregnant Kathryn on the hospital bed.

  A doctor was in position, giving her instructions to push. Pitch walked over and grabbed her hand. “I'm here, I'm right here. Whatever comes next, I'll be right by your side.” Kathryn calmed herself and was able to focus. There was a split second where the dream seemed to glitch out, the room turned red, and Kathryn's belly burst open. However, Pitch gripped Kathryn's hand tighter and the scene switched back to normal. Pitch heard a baby’s cry followed by the doctor talking. “Congratulations, it's a-” He was cut off before he could announce the gender as Pitch suddenly found himself awake in the bed with Kathryn sleeping in his amorphous form. “Damn” He whispered to himself softly. Kathryn smiled in her sleep, mumbling softly.