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five-rivers · 3 years

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Secret saturdays prompt

The secret scientists and/or argost finding out Zaks s1 finale secret. The show did a 6 month time skip and never showed us /how/ they came to find out.

Zak got sick when they came back from Antarctica. It wasn’t something particularly foreign to him. Traveling all over the world meant that he picked up a lot of bugs. It was an occupational hazard. Or, well, not occupational, exactly, because Zak didn’t get paid for what he did, but...

Yeah.

(Maybe he should get paid for this. He did a lot of work, if he was being honest.)

Usually, though, nothing he got was this bad. Mom theorized it was because he overused his powers. Dad thought it was just the stress and the shock- Both things that could impact an immune system. Doyle kept making jokes about bottled water, because, yeah, that was the problem.

Not.

A cold was something he could deal with, though. A nice distraction, even, from having to figure out the implications of the Kur artifact lighting up when pointed at him.

(Maybe, he hoped, Kur was an inherited title, and when he defeated Kur-controlled-by-Argost, it jumped to him.)

(Maybe it was just broken. It wasn’t like Doyle was all that spiritual.)

(Maybe it lit up whenever it was near someone with Kur-like powers.)

(Maybe Kur was living in the back of Zak’s mind and any minute now-)

(Maybe... Maybe Zak was Kur.)

Except, the universe had abruptly decided to hate Zak, because the illness was also screwing with his powers. Every so often, they’d just turn on out of nowhere, not even doing anything, and it would hurt. Like in the ice caves with Doyle, when he was flooded with more spiritual energy than his body could safely handle. Like when he overused his powers in Antarctica.

It really wasn’t conducive to the whole ‘ignoring it’ thing he was going for.

Mom opened the door to his room, and he groaned as the light hit his eyes. “Hey,” she said, maneuvering around the door with a tray in her hands, “how are you feeling?”

“Bad,” said Zak.

Mom put the tray on the table next to his bed and took his temperature. “Still high,” she said. “Do you feel up to eating? I have soup.”

“Okay,” said Zak. He sighed and rubbed his eyes and frowned at the gold reflecting off of them. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing his powers off. With another groan, he forced himself into a sitting position. “I’ve been having weird dreams,” he said, taking the spoon. It felt heavy.

“Oh? Like what?”

“Like... There’s something moving around outside, in the woods, and I think it’s Fisk, but Fisk and Zon are with me.” He poked the soup, breaking the thin skin that had formed on top of it. “You’d think I’d be having dreams about that but... I don’t know. It’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid,” said Mom, ruffling his hair. “You should probably take a shower next time you get up. You’re all sweaty.”

“Okay,” said Zak.

“I’m worried,” said Drew. “I think there’s something supernatural about this illness.”

Doc looked up from the culture they’d taken of Zak’s throat swab. “Really?” he said. “You don’t think it was a pathogen he encountered when he went into the Antarctica cryptid to fight Argost?”

Both parents shuddered. They could still hardly believe they’d let Zak do that, even if the fate of the world was in the balance.

“He’s dreaming about the prowler,” said Drew, before reciting what Zak told her.

“That could be a coincidence,” protested Doc.

“You know,” said Doyle, entering the room with a bag of chips and his hair plastered to his forehead with mud, “after all this, I’m not sure I believe in coincidences anymore.”

“No food in the lab!” shouted Doc, pointing an accusing finger at Doyle.

“Jeez, dude, lighten up. What’s the worse that could happen?”

“You could ingest a deadly chemical,” said Drew.

“Oh,” said Doyle. “Yeah, I guess that would be bad.”

“Did you find the prowler?” asked Drew.

“Nope,” said Doyle. “Not hide nor hair, even with Jurassic overhead. But what I did find...” He made a face. “You know the river?”

“Yes, Doyle,” said Doc, “we are in fact aware of the river we live next to.”

“Yeah, cool. All the fish are dead.”

“What?” asked Drew, raising her eyebrows.

“Dead,” said Doyle. “Belly-up. A lot of the plants near the water aren’t doing so great, either. I’d stock up on bottled water if I were you guys.” He took a sip from his own bottle of water, as if to prove a point. “Now, what were talking about when I came in? Do you think this prowler has something to do with the little guy being sick?”

“Yes,” said Drew.

“Maybe,” said Doc.

They looked at each other.

“I think we need more help,” said Drew. “He’s not getting better.”

“Grimes and Lawhorn?”

“They do specialize in paramedicine. They’re even working on a cure for everything. Unless you think this is neurological, in which case we should call Dr. Bara again.”

Doc made a face. “Not after what happened last time.” More than half of the house was still in ruins.

“Hm, I don’t think Grimes and Lawhorn will be that happy to see us, either,” said Drew.

“They weren’t hurt that badly,” protested Doc. “Arthur just likes to exaggerate. They aren’t even O-positive!”

“Even so,” said Drew. “But, yes, I think we should contact them.”

Zak stirred as Fisk picked him up. “What’s goin’ on?” he asked, sleepily.

“Hrry nn thhn yueeep.”

“It’s fine.” Zak sat up a little so he could rest his head on Fisk’s collarbone. “Where are we going?”

Fisk answered, and Zak nodded sagely.

“I’m really sick, huh?” He closed his eyes and let himself go to sleep again.

“Miranda, Arthur, we didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Well,” said Arthur, “after that whole think with skunk-stripe’s mirror-world double, they’re kind of on edge when it comes to tall stuff, here.” He nodded at Fisk. “They asked us to monitor.”

“We also wanted to discuss what happened in Antarctica,” said Miranda. “Your report felt... incomplete.”

“Right,” said Doc. At least they’d ironed out a cover story before coming. “We’d like to take care of our son, first, though.”

“Of course,” said Miranda. “We’re in no hurry.”

“Hey, there, buddy, how are you feeling?”

“Dr. Grimes?”

“Yep, that’s me.”

Zak blinked slowly. “Better.”

“Good!” said Grimes. “We weren’t sure if that would do anything, but there we have it. Seems like you picked something up from Kur after all.” They spun in their chair and didn’t notice how Zak cringed at the name. “Had to give you an Ancient Sumerian protective amulet. Not easy to get those right!”

“Oh,” said Zak, who had been wondering about the thing tied around his wrist. “Cool. Where are Mom and Dad?”

“Talking to Miranda and Arthur.”

“Oh,” repeated Zak. “Why’re they here?”

“They wanted to talk about Kur,” said Grimes. “I heard you beat it and Argost both! That’s impressive.”

“Thanks,” said Zak, fiddling with the amulet. A spike of pain went through his head, and with it came a sense of movement, images of a forest, the outside of Lawhorn and Grimes’s home.

... What?

“Hey, Zak, are you okay?” asked Grimes. They said something else, but Zak didn’t hear him.

“Something’s coming,” said Zak.

Grimes rolled their chair to the door and pulled it open. “Saturdays! You kid is being ominous!”

Arthur frowned as he watched Doc and Drew leave the room. He wasn’t good at reading people, but-

“They’re hiding something,” said Miranda.

“I think you’re right, buns,” said Arthur.

Miranda rolled her eyes. “I can understand you not remembering my name, Arthur,” she said. “But if you call me that again, I’m going to hit you. With something heavy.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your circuit boards in a twist. What do you think they’re hiding, though? Why hide anything? Like, they told us the parts they screwed up on, letting Argost getting away and all. What could possibly be worse than that?”

Miranda frowned and rubbed her lower lip. “They aren’t the type to lie to make themselves look good, Arthur. There’s something else. The timing of Zak’s illness... They would lie to protect each other, to protect their children.”

“What, do you think short stuff was poisoned by Argost or something? Not that it’d be out of character.”

The idea that Argost got away with Kur, or at least that he had the Saturday’s under his control... That was scary. But it had to be the second one. Argost was patient, but not that patient. There would be wide-scale destruction.

If he was threatening the Saturdays into working for him by holding the kid hostage, that was bad enough. Even if it probably felt like a consolation prize from Argost’s perspective.

“No, it wouldn’t,” said Miranda. “We’ll have to look into it and hope Lawhorn and Grimes can find a solution.”

“We can do more than that! We can go back to their house and see what they’re giving Argost!”

“Arthur, no. We don’t even know if that’s what’s happening. We can’t just break into their house.”

“We can,” Arthur argued, crossing his arms. “You just don’t want to.”

“These are our friends,” said Miranda. “I was only giving a possibility. They might not be hiding anything at all. They could just be worried about Zak. I know I am. Besides, Drew has her mercenary little brother guarding the place.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Arthur, waving his hand, “whatever. I don’t want the kid hurt, either. We’ll talk to them again when he’s better, maybe they’ll change their story.”

Arthur was about to elaborate on this when a rotund, three-legged, three-armed creature with far too many eyes tore through the walls.

Zak gasped and reached for the Claw. Which he didn’t have because he was still in his pajamas. His head pounded. The talisman wrapped around his wrist burned. Dad and Mom stepped between him and the monster, and Fisk pulled him away, to the side of the room, out of the line of fire.

“Who dares to take my prey from me?” growled the creature. “Who dares to come between me and Kur?”

“Azag,” breathed Zak. He didn’t know how he knew this cryptid’s name. He just did.

“The Sumerian sickness demon?” asked his mother, brandishing her sword.

“Kur,” said Azag, all of its eyes fixed on Zak, “the flesh you wear now is weak, and I will take great pleasure in watching it fail you, in watching it trap you, oh Kur, great king of the cryptids.”

“Stay away from him,” said Mom.

“Or else,” said Dad.

The monster started laughing. Then it was hit from behind by one of Arthur’s energy discharge weapons. It hissed and righted itself.

“Do you think I fear his mortal servants? Fools!” It lunged for Dad.

“No!” shouted Zak. His powers flared and the talisman burst into a hundred tiny pieces as he forced himself into Azag’s mind.

(Too familiar- Had he done this before?)

“Can’t,” he panted, “hold for long. Hurry!”

Grimes snatched a bottle from a cabinet, and a syringe from a drawer. “Just hold it a minute longer, Zak. If this is what I think it is-” They didn’t finish the thought as they filled the syringe with the liquid from the bottle.

Then he plunged the needle into the creature’s stony hide. It screamed, the sound and pain echoing through the connection Zak had made with it. His vision went white. He felt his eyes roll back in his head and his knees go out.

Nothing more.

“What was that?” asked Miranda, staring at the melted remains of Azag.

“Disease demon,” said Grimes, giddily. “Lawhorn and I always theorized- I’m so glad I was able to test it! The panacea! I wonder what diseases it represented and how they’ll be affected...”

“Whatever,” said Arthur. “I’m more interested in what that was.” He pointed at Zak, who had collapsed and was currently being fussed over by his parents. “You two have a lot of explaining to do. And you’re going to start with why that thing was calling him Kur.”

#secret saturdays #once again I find myself trawling sumerian myth for characters #fic #my fic #prompt #prompt fill #it's been a bit hasn't it?

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