Asylum

“Finn!” a female voice called from the high-end apartment’s bathroom, the sound of water hitting the steel skins in the vanity echoing softly through the two levels, “Do you know where my eyeshadow is?” A tall lanky man glanced up from his work on the mahogany table set up on the lower floor of the apartment, a metal cleaning and sharping kit set up around him on the table, a clawed gauntlet in his hands. The Irish man pushed the glasses he had on further up his nose and leaned back in his chair, eyes focused on the hall that lead to the main bathroom just off the stairs.  

“Have you tried looking behind the mirror Alexa?” Finn called up to the restroom, raising his accented voice to be heard over the running water. A smile tugged at his lips as he heard Alexa cussing over the sound of the water. He honestly didn’t know how he got this lucky, living in this fancy apartment that would cost him his life normally and living with a spitfire of a woman like Alexa Bliss. Finn himself was a simple man who just liked the simple things in life. He was personally fine with living back at his old apartment down by the river living next door to his two best friends Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. It was the perfect set up really. The apartment wasn’t that high maintenance, working part time at one of the local diners which only was a block away. But it like very good thing had to come to an end. There had been a company that had been buying up spots of the town at an alarming rate those that weren’t bought up yet had to raise their rates to keep up with the competition. Sami and Kevin were fine, the two of them working full time at the towns well paying professional gym. Finn on the other hand wasn’t. He lost both his job and his home in the same week and would be living on the streets or heading back home if he didn’t meet Alexa around that same time. He had been sitting on a bench overlooking the river trying to weigh his options on hand when the blonde had first found him. For the following week Alexa was glued to his side every chance she got. At first Finn couldn’t understand her interest him. He was homeless and had very little money on him, so why would this springy blonde who looked well-off be interested in him.

“You are always so suspicious,” a deep dark voice growled in Finn’s brain causing the smile on the Irish man’s face to fall quickly.

“I didn’t summon you,” Finn snarled back at the demon that inhabited his body along with him. Finn always remembered the demon, or Bálor has the demon had requested to be called but Finn never gave it that satisfaction, it had been with him since his birth. Finn never got much out of his family as to why he was paired with the demon, to his best guess he was chosen for something that he couldn’t understand.

“I am always here little Dove,” the demon chuckled in Finn’s head, “I am never far from you and you know this. Stop asking what if’s little Dove. Instead look at it as a gift. A gift to further our influence.”

“You mean your influence,” Finn muttered in his head turning back to the clawed gauntlet on the table, carefully looking over the claws to make sure that each were sharpened to a point. When Finn was finally able to do things on his own the demon had started whispering promises of power and glory into his ear. At first Finn had been appalled by what the demon was asking him to do, but over time Finn quickly learned that letting the demon out to play every so often lead to good things coming his way. In fact, thinking back on it now, that might have been what attracted Alexa in the first place. Finn was having a dreadful day having been turned down for yet another job opportunity and then haven pushed into a mud puddle finally ruining his last pair of good clean clothes. His anger was steadily boiling under his skin when he noticed a group of thugs ganging around something. Not really caring about the consequences at the time Finn had let the demon out to release his anger out on something. He didn’t remember much from that night, the rush of blood and the screams of pain yes but nothing besides that. Finn had asked the demon about Alexa being there but Bálor never said anything about her being there. The Irish man was so deep in his thoughts he didn’t hear the heel clicks near the table, slightly jumping when Alexa wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Aww,” Alexa teased, a smile on her face, “Did I scare the big bad demon boy?” Finn chuckled lightly and twisted his neck slightly to look at her. It always amazed Finn how she could look simply stunning without much makeup on, knowing full well the only time Alexa put on all her makeup was when she had to be out on a mission. Something about looking your best at what you do or something like that. “What were you thinking bout Finny?” Alexa asked easily wiggling her way into Finn’s lap between the man and the table, “I was calling you for a few minutes there.”

“Its nothing of importance,” Finn smiled lightly, leaning in for a quick kiss from Alexa, “Sorry I was not paying attention. Are we on call in?” After the week of Alexa following him she had cornered him and had offered a job working with her at a hospital far outside town. Finn had jumped at the chance to finally earn some money, so he had quickly accepted. What he didn’t know at the time was that Alexa worked for the same group that was buying up the land of the town, The Authority.

“Yeah, we are,” Alexa smiled brightly, her eyes alight with mischief, “Team Delta came in with a new body a while ago. Just got off the phone with Xavier apparently the new boy gave Delta team an issue when they were getting him so their requesting extra hands on scene. Oh, and Bálor, no killing this one alright? Steph was mad last time.”  

“Asshole deserved it,” Bálor growled in Finn’s head. Finn shook his head to shake the demon’s current hold on him and focused his blue eyes on Alexa. The last time Finn and Alexa were called they were helping get a homicidal maniac into a cage. He had slipped through his restrains some how and had grabbed the gun off a security guard. Balor had forcefully taken control from Finn and killed the man.

“Why did they bring in a new one?” Finn asked lightly, sliding out from the table a hand going to Alexa’s back to keep her in his lap.

“I don’t know,” Alexa huffed, “Xavier didn’t tell me. Something about a need to know basis or some other shit like that. I guess we will know when we get there.” Finn nodded slightly, he understood the secrecy of some of the people that the Asylum took, creatures that posed as humans and other spooks in the night. But he didn’t really like the idea that he and Alexa only really got called in when there was a trouble patient, or someone needed to be…’removed’.  

“Well I have something that might help make you smile,” Finn gave her a soft smile at the excitement that returned in Alexa’s eyes.

“Really?” she asked, almost bouncing in Finn’s lap, “Where Finny?” Finn let out a chuckle and leaned forward towards the table, carefully making sure that Alexa didn’t fall as he grabbed her gauntlet from the table and leaned back in the chair watching her face carefully. “MY GAUNTLET!” she shrieked in surprise taking it from Finn’s hand to look it over, “I thought it was broken! How?!”

“It was an easy fix,” Finn chuckled, lightly watching Alexa put the gauntlet on as she admired Finn’s handy work. Carefully she moved her hand around testing all the joints in the clawed gauntlet and gently testing the sharpness on the mahogany table. Finn watched in amazement as with just a flick of her wrist and the metal gauntlet shifted form down to a skeletal like frame mapping out the major bones in Alexa hand. “I shall never know how you do that,” Finn admitted.

“Its my little secret,” Alexa chuckled lightly and slipped off Finn’s lap, unstrapping the frame from her hand and slipped it into an inner pocket of her jacket, “Well come on Mr. Demon Boy. We got a long drive ahead of us.” Finn nodded lightly and moved off the chair to get his own jacket from the coat rack and the keys from the key bowl on a small side table next to the front door. Finn opened the front door and held it open for Alexa. As she passed the blonde leaned in for a quick kiss on Finn’s lips and started down the hall, hoping that the two weren’t going to be stopped by one of their nosy neighbors. The last time that happened Finn had to pull Alexa away from the old lady before the blonde did something she would get in trouble for. Finn closed the door behind him and turned to lock it when he noticed a door at the other end open and a well-muscled blonde stepping out of the door. Despite not being able to see his face Finn knew who this was immediately. Jack Swagger, part time body builder and full-time guard at the Asylum along side his longtime boyfriend Antonio Cesaro.  Judging by his careful moments Jack was trying to avoid someone, which didn’t really surprise Finn. Many in the apartment building despised the Authority and anyone working for them. Which went not only for Finn and Alexa but Cesaro and Jack. Feeling someone’s eyes on him Jack quickly turned on his heel, his face guarded and angry, but noticing that it was just Finn the guard quickly fell. Giving Finn a quick wave Jack gathered the apartment’s mail and disappeared back into the room. Finn just let out a chuckle and headed the opposite way towards the elevator where Alexa was waiting.

“Did you run into someone?” Alexa asked, knowing fully well Finn would have only stopped on the way to the elevator if someone had stopped him. Finn was too damn polite sometimes, he wasn’t about to brush someone off even if they were spitting in his face.

“Jack poked his head out,” Finn smiled softly, “Just said hi to him.” Alexa made a face but rolled her eyes as the elevator dinged, singling its arrival. The two entered the elevator in silence each mulling over their own thoughts as the elevator traveled down to the car park. When the doors opened the two quickly made it quickly towards the company provided truck. It was a long drive from the city and through the country towards the Asylum. Most of the time Finn would use this time to think about how different his life was at this point but that was when he was just going to do his rounds around the Asylum grounds. This time their going in to apparently deal with an issue patient. It grated on Finn’s nerves that they weren’t told much about the new arrival. Most of the time Finn would have to hang up on Xavier to get the man to shut up, but this time the normally talkative man had been tight lipped and that worried Finn.

“Your worrying,” Alexa muttered lightly, watching the country go by past her window.

“You are too,” Finn smirked, lightly knowing this just at a glance.

“I guess,” Alexa shrugged lightly, still looking out the window, “Just going over why Xavier wasn’t telling me. I know he works in the normie area of the Asylum, but he knows about the other side. If he couldn’t tell me then there wasn’t a place he could go to tell me, or he was told not to.” Finn let out a small chuckle shaking his head.

“Don’t over think it too much Alexa,” he smiled softly, “We will know when we get there at this point.” Alexa just shrugged a bit. She hated the guessing what she was going into, sure she loved a surprise now and again but if this one person caused an issue for their Delta team then some information would be nice. It took a few more miles of driving in the country the Asylum came into view. It was an old massive gothic building complete with stained glass, spiraling points at the top, massive open front garden, which was completed with a massive black caste iron gate and stone wall. Carefully driving up to the gate Finn rolled down the window and pulled out his identification key card from his jacket and swiped it through the reader that sat near the gate. Finn watched the light blink green before rolling his window up and carefully though the huge gates. Despite no one seemingly out and about in the front yard but from personal experience both Finn and Alexa knew they were being watched. Slowly Finn drove towards the employee parking lot quickly finding a parking spot next to the elevator that had been put into the old building. Without much prompting the Finn and Alexa quickly made their way towards the elevator, Alexa punching in her personal code to jolt the elevator to life. As they neared their floor Finn’s mind was racing with what they could encounter when the doors open. There wasn’t much that Delta Squad couldn’t handle, the squad was hand picked by their boss after all for a wide range of coverage when dealing with the more danger side of the job. When the old elevator doors opened the last thing Finn was expecting was an old recognizable face.

“D…Drew?”