Post by thefangedrose on Sept 17, 2023 19:07:55 GMT -8
Disclaimer
This episode contains graphic violence and is where the Supernatural elements of the final Children of Nephilim story arch will come into play and begin.
This isn’t the Children you used to know.
You Were Warned.
Civil War 2
This episode contains graphic violence and is where the Supernatural elements of the final Children of Nephilim story arch will come into play and begin.
This isn’t the Children you used to know.
You Were Warned.
Civil War 2
Chapter 5
“Ambush”
Location: Central Louisiana
Date: September 17th
Time: Near dawn
The soft purring rumble of the engine carried the large luxury vehicle down the highway. In the backseat seat the pristinely dressed Lord Lucifer in his white suit, blonde hair slicked back and shaved at the sides as he preferred. He held a small notebook in his hand and was flipping the pages, his eyes skimming over the information held within.
Beside him sat the beautiful Tia, his Harbinger who until recently had told that she had been under the influence of the original one, Danika Bayne but that…much like an old broach she found in a dresser….had passed. On his other side sat the beautiful Asian woman known simply as “Sara” with her hands folded over the Katana sitting in her lap.
Across from them taking up the other side of the large vehicle sat the twin Korean women, the hulking behemoth Josie Tribal, and in their center the usually painted-up Demoness of Temptation Maiko Adachi.
Unlike the two Korean women beside her and Sara across from her Maiko, half-Japanese had taken much after her American father and didn’t look remotely Asian in origin.
“Any word on the Watchers?” Lucifer demanded handing the small pad back to Sara.
“About half have answered My Lord.” Sariel answered. “There are still a goodly number who have not gotten back to us.”
Lucifer looked anything but pleased.
“And this meeting? Any word on why this Bullet woman would call it?”
“Not off the top of my head My Lord.”
“Pool has familial connections that are connected to the M.C.” Maiko told her God. “Perhaps We could reach out….?”
“I told you no.” Lucifer growled, staring hard on the woman sitting across from her. “Whether or not she ‘assisted’ against the traitor Valdemar doesn’t change the fact that Ashley Kenyon has been an enemy to our cause and she is to be kept in the dark.”
“But….” Maiko began.
“Enough!” Lucifer snapped. “You are lucky I allow this charade of a relationship to continue Asmodeus.”
A simple movement of the eyes was all Sariel gave but it was enough for Maiko to know not to push her luck. Her head inclined in submission.
“Of course Lord.”
Lucifer looked away from the four sitting across from him and out the window at the scenery passing by quickly as the vehicle sped along the highway. For a moment he sat in silence running the back of a single finger over his lips.
“Whatever it is, it doesn’t bode well for us.” He said at last.
“So what do….”
“....We do?”
Again Lucifer fell silent as his mind processed through the problem at hand. He knew it had something to do with the changes. With his decision to no longer honor the old ways and laws that served no purpose in a modern world abandoned by his father.
Finally he pursed his lips and looked back.
“No survivors.”
The car full of people all looked sharply at him as if none of them had heard him correctly.
“My…”
“....Lord?!”
“If provoked,” Maiko added reassuringly.
“Did I say that?” Lucifer growled.
“....no Sire.” Maiko whispered softly.
“No Mercy. No Survivors.” Josie assured him with a wicked smirk.
**
Location: Central Louisiana
Date: September 17th
Time: 4:57 PM
The area was about as ready as it was going to get. It was an old Coast Guard training base that had been sold years before but had maintained that it came to U shape out in the middle of nowhere. The entrances had large stacks of what appeared to be the smaller steel shipping containers.
Over a dozen bikes were parked facing the exit backed up against one of the containers with their riders scattered about all talking to one another. Across the compound, the President of the mother charter of the Maidens stood overseeing everyone and waiting for the proverbial bomb to drop.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: Is everything ready?
Full Patch Jackie “Bandit” Layton along with Club Treasurer Jocelyn “Tibs” Thibault all nod quickly.
Jackie "Bandit" Layton: Angel and the twins have our coms. Killer and Bruiser have the prospects with them, making a run to Baton Rouge.
Tibs exhales heavily.
Jocelyn "Tibs" Thibault: Are Taza and Sangre still mad at her?
Bandit almost laughs at the very thought.
Jackie "Bandit" Layton: Is a frog’s butt watertight? You don’t hit somebody’s family and have them get over it that fast, especially not this family.
Bullet nods somewhere between annoyance and sadness.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: Es la verdad, Kara might have crossed a line that she cannot come back from easily.
Tibs sighs.
Jocelyn "Tibs" Thibault: Well shit.
Bandit shrugs.
Jackie "Bandit" Layton: Gun Show’s got a streak in her that’s going to come back to bite her at some point.
Bullet again nods as she did earlier.
Alex "Bullet" Carbajal: We will deal with that if necessary.
Frowning hard, Tibs crosses her arms.
Jocelyn "Tibs" Thibault: We really didn’t need this now.
Bandit shrugs.
Jackie "Bandit" Layton: Is there ever a good time for this?
Jocelyn "Tibs" Thibault: No, but… damn…
Almost nearly on cue, a small dot rounded the corner of the road, kicking up dirt as it approached. The dot became two and then three as three large SUV’s appeared around the bend.
It took them only a few minutes to cross the distance between the turn and the entrance before the three cars entered the compound and the instant they did the whole atmosphere changed. The posture and body language of every woman there shifted subtly to reveal how tense all of them were.
None of them wanted to be here.
The doors opened revealing men and women wearing simple street clothes exiting the back two vehicles while the driver and passenger doors of the lead vehicle opened revealing a pair. The driver wore a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a shirt, his dirty brown hair flying around his face in the wind where he scanned the group behind the tinted inverted cross glasses.
The passenger was much, much bigger than the driver. He wore a pair of jeans and a tank top. His hair was dirty blonde and hung down over a snake scale-style mask that covered his face.
The exposed flesh of his torso was covered in fresh tattoos that did little to mask what had obviously been bullet wounds in his left arm and chest just off the right strap leading over his shoulder.
?: “We’re early.” The large of the two men said in the damaged growl that was now his voice.
The pair of eyes behind the glasses scanned the area looking up at the stacks of containers and off in the distance before back at his companion.
Michael: “I doubt it, my friend.”
Bullet looked between the two men but primarily she looked at the larger of the two with a raised brow. There was something in her eyes as she looked at him. Something akin to suspicion but before she could voice it another voice broke the silence.
Voice: “You look like shit.”
The eyes of everyone there snapped to the source of the voice and found a tiny, 4’11” woman walking through the crowd of Shieldmaidens toward Bullet’s left. Her hair was bright blonde and she looked as if she were to eat too big a sandwich. The stitches on her leather pants might bust with how slender she was. She wore a black lace top with her Devils’ Doves kutte over the top of it.
The gathering of men and women that had gotten out of the SUV’s all inhaled deep breaths of offense and anger…that was until a sudden laugh rang out from the lips of their leader. A little grin spread across Michael’s face as he left the beast of a man’s side to approach the woman as she walked out in front of the group.
Michael: “If it isn’t my favorite gnat.”
As if he were greeting an old friend Michael warmly extended a hand that the woman took.
Michael: “Long time Eavan.”
Eavan: “Too long.”
Releasing her hand Michael reached up suddenly and placed his palm on the edge of her face, cupping her cheek.
Michael: “Glad to see you are still with us.”
He then pulled her toward him and when his face was beside hers he whispered something into her ear. Eavan’s entire posture changed, her face paled and she looked back at him as he pulled away. There was a slight quiver of her lip and a single tear edging along the corner of her eye.
Michael: “...Goodbye Gnat.”
Eavan: “....Goodbye Michael….”
The figure beside Michael stood and watched this motionless, his cold eyes watching the exchange without the faintest hint that he had any opinion. Bullet however looked over at Eavan and did a slight double take but before she could ask what he said Michael addressed her.
Michael: “And the other thing? Did you discuss it with her?”
Bullet looked back, briefly stopping when her gaze fell over the giant man, and offered the smallest of nods.
Bullet: “I’m not happy about it but she agrees. It is her sister after all.”
Michael: “Good. I imagine the other one will be coming as well?”
Bullet: “Silk isn’t leaving her side…. ¿Es quien creo que es?
Michael looked between her and the man next to him and shook his head.
Michael: “You two don’t know one another.”
Bullet: “Hijueputa, he sounds like his papá, even with the growl.”
Michael: “Alejandra…don’t….”
Bullet then suddenly steps to the side and her arm comes up. The deep rumble of engines on the horizon caused most of the Maidens to look at the road again as another group of vehicles kicked up dust as they approached.
Bullets hand however caught the mask under the chin and knocked it up the man’s forehead revealing the face of Dean Matthews.
Bullet: “¡Hijueputa! ¡Malparido caremonda! ¡Lo sabía!”
The growl that came out of the man’s chest and throat wasn’t remotely the response that Bullet was expecting. However, her eyes were torn away from the two men standing in front of her by the arrival of another set of bikes.
Perhaps half a dozen bikes were parked near where the Maidens had parked and men of various sizes were climbing off. All of them were wearing the Kuttes of The Chrome Dragons. Called no doubt for backup by the Maidens for security.
The only two noticeable that anyone in the group of Michael’s host knew were the large Khary Kenyon and their leader the hulking Forge Mitchell. Bullet looked from the man whose mask she had just undone to Forge and her face went pale.
The masked man reached up slowly, his palm grasping the mask and pulling it back down over his face. The visual, however brief, was enough for everyone to notice. Khary blinked as if he couldn’t process what he had just seen.
Forge however narrowed his eyes and lifted a hand pointing at the man standing with Michael.
Forge: “Someone please tell me that isn’t who the fuck I think it is. And they better do it right the hell now.”
Khary scanned the gathering and as if sensing how tense things were now raised his hand and placed it on Forge’s shoulder.
Khary: “Now isn’t the time, Prez.”
Forge shrugged off the hand and took a step forward. Michael lowered his head and let out a deep sigh.
Forge: “Now’s the only goddamn time. Why isn’t that piece of shit dead?!”
Bullet stepped around Michael and the masked man approached Forge with her arms out.
Bullet: “Papá Oso… I know what he did to Mamá Robi-”
Forge: “I don’t give a fuck what he did to that bitch.”
Forge stepped around Bullet who stood shell-shocked at the heat and sheer indifference in Forge’s voice. Forge, however, stared at the masked man.
Forge: “What you did? It hurt my daughter, motherfucker. No one hurts my little girl.”
Before anyone could react, Forge lashed out and drove a left hand into the side of the masked face. The head snaps to the side and a whole chorus of protests erupts from all sides. The masked man however looked back, dead-eyed and in a growling hiss asked.
?: “That it? That’s the big bad Martyr Machine?”
Forge: “That was my left, bitch.”
And another swing, this time from the right hand that absolutely rocked the big masked man. The first time his head snapped back but this time he actually staggered back and stood for a moment with his shoulders hunched and his head down. Michael stepped forward to speak to Forge but a big hand landed on his shoulder.
The other hand reached up and grasped the mask pulling it up over his mouth where he spit down onto Forge’s boots.
His blood was black. Black and lifeless.
The mask was pulled back down and he arches up and forehead. The thick scales of the mask make contact with Forge’s face, sending Forge back that same single step. As he makes contact five guns come out all pointed at the masked man in the hands of the Chrome Dragons.
Forge raises a hand telling them without words to back off.
?: “...It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. If I could take it back I would. You know his family well enough to know that!”
Forge looks up and spits a mouthful of bright red blood into the masked face.
Forge: “Fuck you. That’s a great comfort to my daughter.”
Forge launches himself forward, taking the masked man by the sides and driving him back into the fender of the lead SUV with such force that the fender dents. Before either of them can throw any more blows two groups grab their respective sides.
The Dragons grab Forge and the Children grab the masked man and pull them apart. The lifeless expression in the eyes under the mask never changes and the pure blind rage never leaves Forge’s… that is until a shrill whistle sounds.
Everyone turns their attention to the source of the sound to find a single figure standing at the top of the double stack of containers. Dressed in a white suit and red tie with the same sunglasses that Michael wore stood Lord Lucifer. His blonde hair was slicked back and shaved at the sides and his arms were at his sides.
Forge looked between Michael and Lucifer as his mind processed what was happening here and then he thrust his arms to break free of his men.
Forge: “Screw this. We’re out. You can all kill each other.”
And with that, the Chrome Dragons all mounted back up and left… all except Khary, who did follow his President but did so with hesitation.
If anyone here knew how dangerous this situation was?
It was a Kenyon.
**
Lord Lucifer waited until it was absolutely necessary to reveal himself. His forces were already surrounding the meeting place, well hidden and waiting for his instruction. As he stood braced on the top of the containers he watched as the second group of bikers pulled out and left…with one of them looking up at him in apprehension as they did.
‘Good. You’ll live longer now’
He thought to himself and then turned his attention to those on the ground. Sariel had been right, it was his old vessel. A former host as it were. The thing standing beside him was intriguing. It looked like someone familiar and yet…he could smell the old power coming from it.
Foreign and yet home.
With a single hand, Lucifer motioned forward and his forces seemed to materialize. They stepped out of the shadows of the evening, around the sides of the containers, and surprisingly from inside the very building behind them.
Dozens of black-robed men and women, all of them without the usual steel mask and all of them sporting the black sun ring around their pupils and thick black veins around their faces. Around the containers came the painted Demoness Asmodeus and the hulking Abaddon from one side and the twins from the other.
And finally, the Harbinger Tia and Sariel stepped around Lucifer standing on each side of him. Michael looked around and saw that even with the Maidens they were outnumbered and surrounded. He looked up at what had once been Anton Crowley.
Michael: “I’ve come to talk, Lucifer.”
Lucifer let out a deep, and yet whisper-soft laugh and shook his head.
Lucifer: “You stole from us to get my attention. Well…now you have it. There will be no talking, however….”
The Shieldmaidens all began to talk amongst themselves as the sound of something snarling in the darkness around them began. Nails clicked off the concrete and hounds rounded the containers to join the Angels and block the road.
They were mastiff-sized and brownish in color but all of them looked…sick. All of them looked as if they had the worst case of mange anyone had ever seen. Large bald spots were all over them with sores covered in thick scabies that leaked black goo-like blood.
Jocelyn "Tibs" Thibault: What the hell is that?!
The woman screamed in what could only be described as disgust. Michael however looked from the dogs up to where Lucifer stood.
Michael: “THAT IS FORBIDDEN!”
Lord Lucifer: “Only to someone as weak as you….”
Michael Rivers: “Anton…Please you have to….”
Lord Lucifer: “SILENCE!”
Michael fell silent as the masked man beside him began to growl looking back and forth at those around them.
?: “Michael…this is bad…”
Michael Rivers: “I know that!”
Michael hissed back but Lucifer just lifted both his arms upward in a display of attack.
Lord Lucifer: “Kill them all.”
The charge came without warning and hesitation. Gunfire erupted from the women standing near their bikes as the black-robed Demons came for them without hesitation. Michael looked over just in time to see one of the huge dogs snatch his own ‘demons’ and launch them three feet to the side from sheer force.
Maiko ducked low with the twin daggers and held reverse grip in her hand while Sariel jumped from the container to the one below it and then down to the ground she landed without a sound holding her unsheathed Katana.
Another of the huge dogs lunged for the man in the mask but he snatched it by the throat as it reached him. Its jaws snapped inches from his face as he held it away with both trembling arms.
Michael Rivers: “Protect the Maidens!”
Michael shouted as the man beside him struggled with the huge rotting hound. The man's arms continued to tremble with effort as he snarled in effort.
Michael shouted as the man beside him struggled with the huge rotting hound. The man's arms continued to tremble with effort as he snarled in effort.
?: “We need to worry about ourselves!”
The masked man turned and launched the dog into the windshield of one of the SUV where it landed on the seats, bouncing between them into the back seat where it thrashed growling with rage. Michael reached up and grabbed him by the mask forcing him to look back at him.
Michael Rivers: “THEY ARE INNOCENT! WE COVER THEIR ESCAP….”
The masked man lifted a leg and drove it hard into Michael’s chest shoving him backward and leaning back just as a blade slammed into the bent fender. Michael looked up to find himself looking up into a swaying Kimono.
Michael Rivers: “...Sara…Don’t….”
Sariel: “His will be done.”
Sariel whispered and brought the katana down on Michael just as a huge booted foot slammed into his side sending him rolling end over end across the concrete and her blade slice off it sending sparks into the air.
Sariel slowly turned and looked at the masked man and swiped for him but he ducked back causing her to hit air and then she came at him full force. He was strong and fast but he was no match for Sara.
No one was.
Each kick and swipe of the blade came closer than the one before it.
It was a simple stone that proved to be his ultimate undoing. He stepped back onto it and lost his footing as the blade came for his face. Before it could make contact however another one met it and suddenly ripped back in a counter slice that forced Sariel to jump back.
When she looked up without even breathing hard she found herself looking into the face of her sister, Shadow.
The two stared at one another for a moment as behind them Eavan slammed her crowbar into one of the black-robed men and stared in shock and horror as the woman just looked back at her, black blood running down the side of her head where the crowbar had hit.
Eavan: “The fuck is happening?!”
Bullet: “¡ÁBRASE! ¡SUBID A VUESTRAS MOTOS! ¡ÁBRASE!”
Michael’s plain-clothed demons, what was left of them charged to where the Maidens were fighting and took the fight to the Demons, what little fight they could make. Michael looked up from the concrete to get his bearings and struggled back to his feet as best as he could without his cane.
When he got there he found himself staring into the painted face of Maiko Adachi. Her face was filled with regret and doubt as she squeezed the knives flanked by one of the two twins he had raised. He looked into the eyes of the woman he had saved so many times and whispered.
Michael Rivers: “You don’t have to do this….You know what's right in your heart. You always have…”
Maiko Adachi: “...His will…..”
Michael Rivers: “Is no different than mine was when I was corrupted. You can feel it. Both of you can….”
Hananiel: “...We do as commanded…”
Michael Rivers: “Trust your hearts…Trust Pool. Trust Zach.”
Pool. Maiko’s lover and soul mate. The woman who had saved her very soul.
And Zachary Sears.
The first friend that Ananiel had made before he fell. His only real friend.
Hananiel: “....”
Maiko Adachi: “....”
Michael Rivers: “You know this is wrong!”
A hulking giantess was closing in on the three of them as he pleaded for two of his oldest disciples to see reason.
Josie Bridal: “Die traitor!”
She swung the large steel pipe she held in her right hand but Maiko saw her reflection in the SUV window. Acting without thinking, she turned and slashed across the raised arm of Josie, sending the blade up her forearm to her hand where the pipe tumbled from her grasp to the ground.
Maiko Adachi: “Don’t you touch him!”
Josie looked up in shock as bright red blood poured down her arm and Hananiel stood staring down at Michael. Now was the moment of truth. She had to choose. She could see her sister charging in behind Maiko and with a single tear running down her beautiful face, she turned and jumped, sending a kick into her own twin sister's face and sending her stumbling over the concrete.
The two women then helped Michael up and toward one of the SUV’s. Sariel and her sister were still locked in martial combat exchanging sword block for sword block until Sariel saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
The masked man had taken the handlebars of one of the women’s bikes in his hands and stepped into it with a growling scream before actually tossing it at the woman. The sheer feat of strength shocked Sara enough that she was only able to partially dodge with the bike hitting her in the side as she skipped out of the way.
With Sariel removed from the field for now her sister and her girlfriend could survey the depot and found that most of their sisters had gotten to their bikes and were mounting up. Eavan was being forced to mount hers as she “refused to leave Michael to die” but before they could join them one of the Demons took Silk by the throat and slammed her spine first into the wall.
Nearly on instinct, her arm came up with one of the Desert Eagles she kept hidden in the back of her jeans. She pressed the barrel to the man’s forehead and with a blast pulled the trigger. But her look of resolve turned into horror as the man’s head snapped back and then came back down to look at her, black blood running down his nose.
Silk: “...W…wha….”
A blade came up severing one of the hands holding her throat and a woman appeared taking the man in the side of the face with a kick sending him tumbling away. When another man grabbed her Silk brought the Desert Eagle up only to find herself staring into the lifeless eyes in the mask.
?: “The SUV’s! GO!”
Silk: “But we’re going with….”
Shadow: “I’m going with them! I need to help Sara!”
?: “Talk later. Go.”
The three of them ran for the SUV’s as Michael was loaded into the back of one and Hananiel climbed behind the wheel. Shadow climbed in behind Michael and Maiko with Silk and the masked man slammed the passenger door right as a dog slammed into it shattering the window.
Michael Rivers: “GO!”
They were way out of their depths and he knew it. Lucifer had broken rules that had been in place since the beginning and he couldn’t understand why.
The few of his plain-clothed demons that survived loaded into the final two SUV as the Maidens were disappearing from view in a cloud of dust. The three peeled out in reverse onto the road as Josie went to her feet holding her bleeding arm and Ramiel was helping Sara, who was holding her ribs, up.
As the three cars disappeared from view Lucifer stood atop the containers staring with open hate in his eyes.
For those in the cars, it was mostly questions about what the hell those things were, and what the hell was happening.
And for Michael the worst part? He had no idea.
But he did know that with Maiko and Hananiel shifting loyalties? The Civil War for control of the Children had officially begun.
