Post by thefangedrose on Sept 6, 2023 18:57:11 GMT -8
Civil War 2
Chapter 4
“It has begun”
Location: Southern Louisiana
Date: August 20th
Time: Near dawn
The gathering had been arranged in a warehouse on the west side of a little no-name town in southern Louisiana. The building was three stories high, though it was only one large room with a high roof, sturdy beams, and filled with cargo of all shapes and sizes.
Standing in the center of the room in an area cleared of cargo was a small group of men and women who looked, at the same time, out of place and confused. They talked in murmurs to each other with words like “Michael” “Children” and “No” coming out of the murmurs.
When the huge doors on the side of the building opened and revealed a triangle of sunlight the shadows of two figures appeared. One of them towered over the other and the second walked with the assistance of a cane.
When the two men approached the group they all turned to give them their full attention. The larger of the two had brown hair that hung down to the middle of his back and a small fledgling brown beard. He wore a pair of jeans and a sweater jacket with a hood up. Over his face, he wore a mask made of reptilian-type scales.
The second man now wore a pair of white jeans, and a white button-up top and walked with the assistance of a white oak cane. He wore a pair of sunglasses with an upside-down cross built into the lenses
One of the women, a middle-aged woman with greying bits in the temples of her brown hair saw the huge hulking monster and gapped at him but when her eyes turned to the second man she gasped and dropped to a knee in reverence.
“Lord Lucifer…..”
“No…” Michael said and reached out to touch the side of her head. “None of that. Michael.”
“Why are we here?” One of the men asked suspiciously looking around. “And where are the Angels?”
“Gone.” The Hulk growled.
“Then why did you call us?”
Ignoring him again the hulk looked down at the man with him.
“I think this is all those who came.”
Michael made an unhappy face while surveying the group. He had sent word to nearly a hundred of those who had returned to their lives after the Civil War.
“19.” The masked man hissed. “19. That is what your kindness bought you Lucifer. 19”
Michael shot a warning look at it and then looked back at the group, specifically the man who had questioned them. An older man who had kept his head shaved but now wore a small triangle beard.
“John,” Michael said softly. “You know what brought you to us. Have you…?”
“Never!” The man answered immediately. “I saw the error of what I did. I had no right. It was wrong. No…It was evil.”
“What made you come to that realization….?”
“.....”
For a moment the man said nothing. A younger man, in his late twenties with shoulder-length blonde hair looked up to answer for him.
“What Ruvik….” He choked back a tear at the memory of what he had heard. “....What they did….What happened to Asmodeus….”
“Ah,” Michael whispered and strode forward to lay a hand on both men's shoulders, the one touching the older man held the cane lightly. “You bore no fault in that. When she came home to us….and Ashley cared for her did you not take time out to help apply the salves to her wounds?”
The older man nodded gently.
“Gentle hands,” Michael added. “Caring for the horrors inflicted. Why?”
“....Someone needed to help.” The older man whispered. “What they did was evil.”
“And we stood up didn’t we?” Michael asked them and the group murmured in agreement. “We fought. Side by side. Shoulder to shoulder. You stood beside Demon and Angel alike to hold that burden.”
The murmur got louder as now all eyes were on Michael.
“Aerynn Donnelly and Shonn laid down their lives,” Michael told them. “For you. Even my own Angels gave the greatest sacrifice of all to ensure that true evil was eradicated from the world.”
“Rami” “Nani” and “Father” were all heard through the group's collective murmurs. Michael smiled at the knowledge that these men and women still to this day honored their sacrifice.
“Now to answer your question, John?” Michael said at last and now everyone there was looking to no one but him. “The new Lucifer? He had begun to make the same rules as the false Lucifer made.”
An angry murmur passed through the crowd and many of them narrowed their eyes.
“Innocent men and women being taken and converted. The old rules and laws ignored….flouted and laid low.”
“And you need help.” A woman near the back asked fiercely. “Our Lord calls us to service!”
“No!” John shouted looking back at the woman who flinched away but when he looked back at Michael there was no anger. “Not our Lord. Michael Rivers. The man who gave his soul to defend the defenseless. The hero we needed.”
“Will you fight?” The Hulk asked in a growl. “Will you reembrace demonhood?”
The entire warehouse erupted into ruckus cheers and Michael could do nothing but smile.
“Do you know where we are right now?” The hulking figure asked.
Collectively the group looked around but none of them spoke up to answer. The warehouse was filled with boxes of all shapes and sizes all of which had a strange sun-like symbol on them. A symbol one of them had seen before.
“These…” The masked man lifted one huge arm and the sweater jacket pulled up a bit revealing green and brown ink on his left arm. “The set up for a new outpost for the new Lucifer.”
The group began to murmur again all looking around at the boxes and the change of the age-old sigil. The blasphemy.
“The Monitors. Gear. Weapons. Stun gloves and all the materials needed to make another tomb. Outside you’ll find a truck waiting and a driver waiting to transport it.” The creature growled. “I want it loaded and this warehouse empty within the hour.”
The whole room said nothing, looking at one another unsure until Michael spoke.
“You heard Sathanas.”
The tune of the entire group changed at that word. A gasp ran through the crowd and they began to move through the boxes, transporting them out to where the truck was waiting. All except John who looked up at the masked man slack jawed.
“...D..Dean?”
The masked man slowly turned his attention to the man looking up at him, his cold eyes watching through the holes.
“No.”
For a moment the man didn’t seem to understand and then his eyes suddenly widened filling with horror.
“...It happened didn’t it?” John asked. “Tell me you’re in there….”
“Do you’re job, John.” The Hulk warned ominously.
“Dammit….” The man whispered with sadness creeping into his voice.
When he turned and moved to help the others the hulking figure watched him, his eyes narrowed under the mask. The click of Michael heading toward him brought the smaller man to his side and he didn’t even have to look up.
“Don’t,” Michael ordered.
The figure towering over him growled in reply staring at the former demon's back.
“I. Said,” Michael whispered forcefully and the final word came out with a crackle of bass and energy. “Don’t.”
The tone and the strange flow of power that came with it snapped the taller man’s head down to look at him.
“You dare command me?”
“I still possess a percentage of Lucifer. You have seen it. You have FELT it.” Michael told him under his breath. “What did the Pact put all things born of human sin under the authority of?”
“.....”
“Answer. Me.” Michael snapped with that same thundercrack in his voice.
“Lucifer.” The figure answered.
“Good. Remember that.”
For a time the towering figure just stared down at him until Michael finally looked up and the two locked eyes.
“Pray….” The masked man growled. “...It doesn’t become the other one.”
Michael said nothing as the two stared. The wheels turned in his mind but he found himself unable to reply. He could see the hate and rage…..the Wrath in the eyes of the thing looking down at him.
Being called Dean had activated Wrath.
The two then parted ways to oversee the moving of the cargo. Within the hour the entire warehouse was cleaned out of every box both big and small. The men and women had all climbed up into the back of the trailer of the big rig that had been sitting outside.
Michael limped his way to the passenger side of the truck while the big hulking figure walked to the trailer, climbed inside, and pulled the door closed. Michael climbed up and the truck pulled off leaving the warehouse doors open.
**
Sunday August 20th, 2023
Common Room
Shieldmaidens Clubhouse
New Orleans, Louisiana
8:11 AM CDT
The Shieldmaidens sit in the common room of their clubhouse, forty-five minutes before their businesses start to open up for the day. As President Alex “Bullet” Carbajal sits in her coveralls before she goes to work downstairs at the Twisted Steel Garage, her sister, Full Patch Gabriela “Taza” Carbajl, not yet in her coveralls, sighs heavily.
Gabriela "Taza" Carbjal: I wish Kara did not need to go off today.
Bullet shrugs nonchalantly.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: She and Bruiser will be fine, there is no need to worry. It is just a simple supply run for the Barn, not a war preparation. You know how they like to mess with the prospects.
Taza nods. Her wife did enjoy that particular activity almost as much as she did kicking ass in the ring.
Gabriela "Taza" Carbja: lEs la verdad… pero…
Bullet nods understandingly.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: I would feel the same if it was Jack or Angel.
Just as Taza starts to smile, they hear one of their fellow Maidens’ voices come from the hallway that leads to the bedrooms of the place.
Toni "Firefly" Zendejas: Aw Man!
Taza and Bullet both frown at Firefly as the tattooed Filipino woman walks into the room.
Gabriela "Taza" Carbjal: ¿Hay problema?
Firefly points back toward the bedrooms.
Toni "Firefly" Zendejas: Bandit’s in the side room watching CNN and has like a laptop and a tablet set up so she can watch other “news” shit too! You’d think she was setting up to let Cisco watch the World Cup or let Cavemen watch tennis.
Taza can’t believe her ears.
Gabriela "Taza" Carbjal: Cavey likes tennis?
Bullet shrugs, grinning ear to ear knowingly both because she knew how much Bandit watched CNN like most Americans watch football and how strange Caveman’s tendencies usually struck people when he looked like he did.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: He surprises many people with many things.
Taza just looks at her sister.
Gabriela "Taza" CarbjalI: He’s Caveman, he usually does not like anything!
Firefly shrugs.
Toni "Firefly" Zendejas: I’ve seen him watch tennis, it’s an amazing sight!
Taza just shakes her head in shock.
Gabriela "Taza" Carbjal: Huh…
Bullet starts to snicker as three more Maidens walk into the room, Secretary Jocelyn “Tibs” Thibault and the Club IT twins, Tanya “Crash” Christensen and Danya “Burn” Christensen. Tibs nods to Bullet and the Club President stands up.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: ¡Perdóneme!
She walks over across the room so that only Tibs and the twins can hear her.
Jocelyn "Tibs" Thibault: We got a message through back channels. It took a minute to authenticate but..
Bullet nods grimly.
Jocelyn "Tibs" Thibault: Michael Rivers wants a meeting here in New Orleans as neutral ground and wants mediation.
Bullet frowns.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: With us?
Tibs shakes her head.
Jocelyn "Tibs" Thibault: We’re the mediation.
Bullet stares at her for a second and then nods knowingly.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: One of the warehouses just outside of town. Pick one and make the arrangements. Send back a message saying we will do this. I will tell Forge when I go downstairs. Spectre will have concerns that will need to be soothed. Tell no one else until everything is set. ¿Entiendes?
The three nod and Bullet exhales heavily, knowing what this could lead to.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: ¡Hágame un catorce y pilas!
Tibs and the twins nod as they turn to go back to their workroom. Bullet exhales again and heads for the door and the stairs. This was not going to be a fun conversation.
**
Location: Unknown
Date: September 1st
Time: Near dusk
The sun was just beginning to set over the walled-in compound but the mood seemed far grimmer than the dusk hinted. The sound of soft footfalls announced a presence in the grass. Not the heavy steps of boots but the light soft-footed steps of someone who was used to walking without being heard and was now….relaxed.
The tiny figure wrapped in a beautiful black and white kimono appeared out of the darkness and walked up the stairs leading to the doors proper. Two men pulled the doors open for her with their heads bowed but not before she caught sight of their heavily dilated pupils and black veins coming off the outline of their eyes like little suns.
It wasn’t a sight the figure was particularly happy about but she did well to hide it. She walked into the hallway to the main greeting area where a set of two stairs circled up, one from each side to the second floor. The one to the left carried her to the door at the top between the stairs another pair of black-robed men pulled the doors open for her.
The room beyond was a simple room decorated in black and red with paintings of various biblical scenes along the walls and sculptures from ancient Rome sitting along the walls. The focus of her trip sat behind a large mahogany desk looking down at a stack of papers. His hair was dyed platinum blonde and shaved at the side and when he looked up it revealed a pair of snake bite piercings on his lip.
A lip that curled into something akin to feral when he laid eyes on her.
His hand reached down to the desk and pulled out a small flash drive that he held between his fingers.
Lucifer: “Do you know what this is.”
The Asian woman's eyes shifted from him to the drive in his hand and back.
Sariel: “If I had to guess My Lord? The Masterfile.”
Lucifer: “Correct. And who are the only people who have access to this?”
Sariel: “Now? You and I.”
Lucifer: “So imagine my surprise when alarms were tripped that files were copied and a sizeable untraceable transfer of funds was authorized.”
Sariel stood for a moment unblinking. She was unafraid, at least of this particular topic. Her brows however knotted downward and she raised her right hand where a single sheet of folded paper was held.
Sariel: “It may have something to do with this My Lord.”
Lucifer's eyes never left her own as he held out his hand and she handed it over.
Sariel: “That outpost you were setting up in southern Louisiana? Demons arrived and found the storage empty.”
Lucifer: “Empty?!”
For the first time, he took his eyes off her and looked down at the paper.
Sariel: “Yes Sire. Weapons, electronics, computer equipment. The whole warehouse was emptied, Also….someone has reached out.”
Lucifer drove the paper down on the desk where it landed with a loud thud and his gaze slowly rose upwards in annoyance.
Sariel: “Are you familiar with the name Alejandra Mariana Carbajal …….”
Lucifer: “Bullet. President of the Shield Maidens mother charter. She reached out?”
Sariel: “Through the old channels. I would guess she found some contact information on Aerynn and Shonn Macquire.”
Lucifer's lips curled upward in not only distaste but disgust.
Lucifers: “Failures. Pathetic filthy humans.”
Sariel’s face was like a stone as she stared down at the man sitting across from where she stood.
Sariel: “She requested a meeting at a neutral location. I didn’t understand why but….”
Sariel motioned to the device in his left hand and the paper sitting under his right.
Sariel: “... it's becoming clearer Sire.”
Lucifer said nothing. He dropped the flash drive on top of the paper and folded his hands over the pair of them as he considered his options.
