Post by Bene Elohim on Feb 8, 2024 15:04:21 GMT -8
~{Disclaimer}~
~{Civil War: 032 contains scenes of graphic violence, hints at the actions done to Maiko Adachi and Death.}~
~{Reader discretion advised.}~
The board had been arranged and the trap had been set. Ashley Kenyon had been hunting for weeks now with only the occasional pause to slip back into the compound known as Hell unnoticed.
Or what she had thought was unnoticed.
While she did, the final location of her story was arranged by the twisted demented man known as Ruvik. Meanwhile, his partner in crime Taylor did most of the actual heavy lifting. Walls that were paper-thin in some places, hallways that led to nowhere. Windows with bulletproof glass.
The place was an inescapable deathtrap built specifically to end the threat of Ashley Kenyon and Maiko Adachi when they came for the pair.
And of course, the pair knew that somewhere in the shadows lurked another problem. They had been told that Sathanas, Anthony Crawford, would be trailing them to ensure their safety and make sure that the two women failed when they finally came for them.
The outside of the building looked no different than any other remote location. A long forgotten and forsaken alley leading to the warehouse, a thicket of bushes and trees surrounding it on three sides.
The rumble was the first thing to announce the arrival of someone who didn’t quite belong. A few seconds later, a handful of bikes came around the corner and into the alley. They got halfway down the alley when they reached the parked car sitting off to the side of the alley.
The car was a beat-up piece of shit Ford. The kind of car you wouldn’t even look at twice if you walked past it. Leaning on the fender with her arms crossed was Ashley Kenyon. She had a pair of Glock 9MM’s strapped to her outer thighs, one to each leg. Two more attached to the waistband clips on each side of her waist with both a combat shotgun and an AR-15 slung over her back.
She was loaded for war.
The bikes slowed to a stop to reveal Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon wearing normal street clothes with three dark-haired women riding behind her as escorts. Fi and Ashley met at the hood of the car and shared in a brief, albeit warm, hug.
Ashley Kenyon: “You got my message.”
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “Th’ fuckers tha killed me sister are gonna maet Ms. Mayhem? Yer god-damn right I’m gonna bae haere.”
Ashley Kenyon: “Good.”
Ashley looked down into the eyes of the woman in front of her as she pulled the Glock from her right thigh and pulled the hammer back with an audible click.
Ashley Kenyon: “No mercy, Fi.”
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “Fer Ryn.”
Ashley Kenyon: “For fucking Twoey.”
Ashley released the slide and it slid back into place with another audible click. Fi turned to look at the women behind her and swept her hand around them while glancing at the empty surroundings.
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “No one in. No one out.”
The women gave a unified nod, punctuated by the leather-like sound of the Glock going back into its holster. Fi followed Ashley as she headed toward the small door on one side of the building.
None of them saw the figure in black crouched at the treeline just outside the line of bushes, watching the group with focused narrowed eyes.
Anthony was stalking them.
**
What happened once the two women were inside couldn’t even be called a fight. The door led straight into the main central chamber of the warehouse where Ruvik and Taylor stood. The masks and hoods of their Lord Apollyon Demon outfits were left discarded showing Taylor’s messy brown hair and Ruvik’s jet black nearly shaved head.
When the door closed with an audible clank, the two men turned and looked anything but surprise. In fact, Ruvik actually managed a grin at the two women. As if he knew something about all of this that they didn’t.
But neither Ashley nor Fianna so much as flinched. Their steady forward pace continued.
Ashley Kenyon: “I have to admit...”
She told the pair as she slowly reached around her, pulling the black shotgun into her hands.
Ashley Kenyon: “I expected you fucking cowards to run.”
Taylor: “Why would we run?”
Ruvik: “We have you exactly where we want you.”
Ruvik’s right foot came down on a small level on the floor beside him and when the plate depressed steel bars slid across the door behind the women, locking them inside the building.
Ruvik: “And when Sathanas gets here? You’ll suffer as you’ve never suffered before.”
Ashley Kenyon: “Only one problem with that.”
Ashley said in a deep growl, the image of what these men had done to Maiko ran through her like a movie on repeat, urging on her lust for blood.
Ashley Kenyon: “He’s not here now.”
The shotgun came up and erupted with a colossal concussion and a burst of flames from the mussel as she saw it fire in almost slow motion. Ruvik only grinned as the slag hit a wall of polycarbonate glass, but that grin turned into a look of disbelief when the shot ripped through the material, missing him and Taylor by inches.
The two turned and looked at one another before they turned tail and ran like the cowards they both were. Ashley and Fi gave one look at one another before splitting up, each of them heading around opposite sides of the “glass”.
Each woman came around a corner, stalking the two men. Ruvik and Taylor each split up, heading in different directions themselves. Taylor came around a corner and found himself staring directly into the barrel of one of the Glocks held in the hand of the raven-haired Kenyon. His head came up quickly.
Taylor: “She was just…”
He never got out his explanation for what he and his friends had done to Maiko Adachi. A loud crack from the weapon in her hand forced his head to snap backward. Taylor fell backward, limp, while Ashley watched him fall with grim determination.
She took no pleasure in this. It simply needed to be done.
No. That was wrong.
She was taking a man’s life, but she took pleasure in it. What they had done to the woman she loved? That was horrible.
This was justice.
Ruvik, on the other hand, had managed to elude Fianna through the maze of hallways and artificial walls coming out back in the main chamber of the warehouse. As he sprinted, his foot hit the floor panel and the bars holding the door pulled back.
Sprinting for the door without looking back, Ruvik was so close to freedom he could taste it... until the loud crack of gunfire echoed off the walls and two bullets tore through his right knee. The nearly shaved man hit the ground and rolled into the door with a loud thud and a pain-fueled cry.
Out from the hallways and between the reinforced pillars, the two women came, each of them staring at Ruvik with a purpose in their eyes. Ashley slowly slid the Glock back into the holster at her side and motioned with her hand to Fi.
Ashley Kenyon: “She was your sister, Fi. He’s yours.”
Fi continued toward him, each step slow and measured as she stared down at the man that had taken her sister from this world. Only to turn away slowly and shake her head.
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “Aerynn would want justice, nae revenge. Take him back tae Lucifer.”
Ashley Kenyon: “Are you sure?”
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “....No. So bae doin’ it quickly.”
Ruvik: “Pathetic. Pathetic, useless, idiot bitch!”
Fi froze and slowly her head tilted to the side as she listened.
Ruvik: “You’re just lucky we didn’t do to your slut of a sister what we did to that painted whore!”
Fi’s hand rose quickly and a loud CRACK echoed as Ruvik’s head shot back. No outrage or outcry from Fi. Simply cold justice to the man who had orchestrated so much suffering. His body fell back with a gentle thud. Fi stood there, panting, staring away from the man whose life she had just taken.
Ashley Kenyon: “You okay?”
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “O’ course. Ye dinna bae growin’ up like we did an’ nae learn this was an inevitability.”
As the two women stood staring at one another, a strange sound began to ring out. The soft rhythmic sound of two hands coming together in a slow, almost mocking clap. Both of their heads shot around, not expecting anyone else to be here, and found a man walking out of the shadows of one of the many hallways built into this maze within the warehouse.
He wore loose-fitting jeans with black boots and a simple black tank top that showed off the tattoos on his shoulders and the side of his neck. His cheeks were covered by a thin stubble, the shadow of a man who had been running himself hard the last week.
Or had nowhere to go.
Anthony Crawford: “I should really thank you for that.”
In his right hand was a silver handgun. Anthony was carrying a firearm now.
Ashley Kenyon: “Fi… run.”
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “Who th’ fuck bae tha?”
Ashley Kenyon: “GO! NOW!”
Without waiting for an answer, Ashley shoved Fianna toward the door and started side-stepping away, her hands dropping to her hips and the pair of Glocks there as she moved right. They came free and she opened fire, but Anthony started to his right as well, the bullets pinging off the reinforced pillars placed throughout the room.
**
Fianna hit the door and threw herself through it, knowing this wasn’t something that she should concern herself with. This was obviously the Children’s business, but she’d wait outside near the bikes. From inside of the warehouse, the sound of gunfire could barely be heard.
Anyone standing more than twenty feet from the building would have never even heard a thing. Whoever built this deathtrap had done a damn good job.
As she got some distance from the warehouse, a strange realization began to hit her. The other three women who had come with her were nowhere to be found.Their bikes were still here but it was like they had vanished off the face of the planet.
Or someone had taken them out while she and Ashley were inside.
Behind her, the gunfire continued, changing to the sounds of an automatic rifle and the ping of the rounds hitting the metal. It was like Ashley wasn’t hitting anything but she had talked to her sister enough to know that wasn’t possible.
When she finally neared the bikes, she saw a figure in a black hoodie come around the corner and her hand dropped to her weapon. She had heard enough from Khary that she knew the people that attacked the house in New Orleans had been dressed like this.
She only relaxed when she saw the person wasn’t wearing a mask, just had the hood of the sweatshirt up. As the figure passed her, Fi caught only the faintest hints of the edges of the mouth and cheek that appeared to be far, far too pale.
As if they were painted
**
Try as she might, Ashley couldn’t get a hit to land. She continued to move right as she finally emptied the clips and slid them back into her waist, pulling around the AR-15 and began to fire in a rapid, but controlled burst. Each of the rounds pinging off the metal wall behind the man and the reinforced pillars in front of him.
When he reached the final pillar, Ashley followed past it, expecting him to come out on the other side. However, he planted his shoulder into the rounded edge and even at full speed spun, coming around the opposite side.
Ashley adjusted but a half a second too late as Anthony grabbed the butt of the weapon in one hand and the barrel shaft with the other. He twisted his arms, crossing her own as the weapon turned end over end in her hands, and he lifted a leg, driving it not into her, but into the center of the gun while never releasing it.
The force of the kick sent her backward, the strap holding the gun to her back snapping as he kept his grip on it and she landed on her back. Anthony ejected the clip and tossed the weapon aside, as Ashley rolled backward and to her feet. Her hands were already bringing the shotgun around and a single cartridge fired off as he slammed the barrel to the side, the edge of the spread catching him in the upper arm.
The force of the blow spun him around, but he used the momentum and jumped, driving the edge of his knee not into the shotgun, but the hand holding it, throwing it to the side and out of her hands. Anthony looked down at his arm, blood running down from the minor wound, and even he knew he got lucky.
Anthony Crawford: “FUCKING BITCH!”
Ashley Kenyon: “HOLD THE FUCK STILL!”
Grabbing the Glock on her left thigh, the arm came up only to get caught by Anthony’s good arm and used it to flip the woman over him. Ashley hit the ground hard, the breath leaving her in a gasping cry, but she lifted the arm nonetheless. For this, Anthony planted his foot into her wrist and drove her arm into the ground.
Her hand hit the ground with a bone-jarring crunch and the gun bounced away from the pair. When that hand came up again, blood was left on the ground, the back of it cut to hell from the broken pieces of stone and metal from the wall and pillars.
Anthony stepped back, the droplets of blood leaving a small trail away from where she was slowly getting to her feet. Ashley threw her hair from her face and flexed her hand. Nothing broken.
The pair stood for a moment, staring at one another before his eyes fell to the last weapon she had. The Glock on her right hip.
Anthony Crawford: “Don’t.”
Ashley Kenyon: “I don’t have a choice.”
Anthony Crawford: “Everyone has a choice, Kenyon.”
Ashley Kenyon: “Yeah… Markus. Joshua. Shonn. Aerynn. So did you.”
Anthony opened his mouth to speak, but Ashley’s arm shot up. Darting towards him, Ashley managed to get two shots off, the first ripping through Anthony’s right hand and the other clips the very edge of the right side of his neck.
At the end of her progression, however, he caught her square in the mouth with a left hand which stunned her enough for three more blows, two lefts and a right to connect. Staggering back, Anthony moved in and jumped, using the first leg as a distraction to get her guard to move and connected across the jaw with the other.
Ashley spun before she hit the ground, the final gun clattering away. But to her credit, she rose to her feet, crossing her arms across her chest to block the knees as he came in. Yet he grabbed the collar of her top, planted his knee into the fabric, and shoved downward, taking her legs out from under her and driving her face-first into the concrete.
She didn’t get up this time.
Anthony slowly rose to his feet, blood now gushing from the hole in his hand while also rolling down his bicep and the side of his neck. A look of pure unadulterated murder came over him as he lifted a leg, aiming to take her in the back of the head, but a black figure hit him full speed, spearing him to the ground.
Anthony rolled through the attack, while the figure popped up and the hood fell back, revealing the face of Maiko Adachi. Her face was completely painted as it had once been and her hair seemed to be blonde with red streaks. Anthony knew who he was staring at and smiled.
Anthony Crawford: “Hello, Asmodeus.”
Asmodeus: “DESPOILER! YOU WON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER AGAIN!”
Her hands shot behind her back and the two knives sheathed at the small of her back came free with a metallic hiss. Anthony danced back, slapping her hands away at the wrist as she swung the blades with reckless abandon, but deadly precision.
Each strike came a little closer, small cuts appearing on his forearms and hands as the blood loss began to get to him. Behind the pair, Ashley lifted her head, her eyes glazed over, but she was conscious enough to see Maiko fighting Anthony one on one.
She knew her Twoey was only here to protect her.
She also knew she didn’t stand a chance.
All it took was one mistake. Asmodeus spun behind him and slashed the two knives across his lower back instead of driving them in to the hilt. In that instant, Anthony spun around, grabbed her by the throat, and drove a headbutt into her mouth. Pulling her in seconds later, he slipped her arm over his shoulder and flipped the tiny woman over him as he had Ashley.
This time, however, when Maiko went to get up, he brought his leg out, kicking her square in the side of the knee. Ashley let out a whimper and reached for Maiko when she heard the woman she loved let out an agony-filled scream as her knee shattered with a very audible SNAP.
Maiko raised her head, reaching for her broken leg and Anthony shot out another kick that took her full force across the mouth sending her to the side where she lay motionless on the floor.
Ashley had forgotten all about Anthony now. After losing so many loved ones, she wasn’t about to lose Maiko as well. She was forcefully crawling toward Maiko as Anthony walked away, cradling his broken hand. Ashley pulled Maiko’s bloodied and painted face off the floor and cradled it in her lap. All the while, Anthony reached down and plucked one of her own Glocks off the floor.
When Ashley finally looked up she found herself staring up at Anthony as he leveled the gun at her.
Ashley Kenyon: “...Do it, you fucking bastard…”
Anthony Crawford: “For what it’s worth? I take no pleasure in this. You are a hell of a fighter, Kenyon. You just fought for the wrong side.”
Ashley Kenyon: “JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET IT OVER WITH!”
Anthony gave the faintest little nod and pulled the hammer back. Ashley leaned down and pressed a kiss to the painted bloody woman’s face, whispering to her she’d be with her sister soon before looking up one final time in time to see a figure jump off the second floor.
The figure, shoulder-length brown hair flying around his head as he jumped, grabbed one of the beams running overhead as Anthony turned to follow Ashley’s eyes. As he turned, two feet took him dead in the face.
Ashley watched in shock as Lucifer landed in a crouch between the two women and Anthony with one hand resting on the floor.
Anthony spun around, blood running down his mouth from the force of the blow. For the first time in nearly ten years, he found himself face to face with Michael Rivers. The man who had taken him off the streets as a boy and taught him everything he knew.
And then cast him out like filth.
Anthony Crawford: “You dare show your face to me? After what you did to me?!”
Lord Lucifer: “You broke the code, Sathanas.”
Anthony Crawford: “I WAS SIXTEEN!”
Lord Lucifer: “You knew the man was innocent. You knew and yet you took his life anyway. As if that wasn’t enough? You also claimed the life of his wife. You made the child you were sent to protect an orphan.”
Anthony Crawford: “You dare to judge me?! YOU?! Does the name Broderick Montgomery bring back any memories? How about the whole plot surrounding Dean Matthews? Or finding out about the Matthews girl, and instead of telling anyone, using her as a weapon? Any of this ring a bell?”
When Anthony finished speaking, he lunged without warning into a strike. However, Lucifer was expecting it. He danced around the edges of his former pupil’s range and snatched his wounded hand, twisting with both hands sending shockwaves of pain through Sathanas.
When Anthony threw a wild left-handed punch, Lucifer threw his own head to the side, driving the side of his head into the blow and throwing the arm away. He launched himself forward, driving a forearm into his former student’s face that floored Sathanas.
When Anthony slowly got to a knee, the blood loss sending him further and further down the rabbit hole by the second, Lucifer pressed his advantage. Anthony threw a left hand that Lucifer jumped back out of the range of, extending an arm into a right hand of his own that took Sathanas in the mouth, staggering him back.
Anthony tried to take the fight to Lucifer, but he had simply lost too much blood. Lucifer easily ducked the kicks and danced out of the way of the blows, slapping some away and ducking others each time, tagging Anthony with a right hand to the mouth.
Lucifer moved in again, attempting a kick to the head, but Anthony caught him by the leg and side, throwing him back over the larger man. Lucifer hit the ground and rolled toward the women, coming up into a knee in time to see the door on the far side of the room swinging closed. Sathanas was nowhere to be seen.
Lucifer, panting softly, stared at the door and then turned his attention to Ashley. She was trying to help a whimpering Maiko to her feet and found she didn’t have the strength. He slid Maiko’s arm over one of his own, but when he offered Ashley the other, she gave him a stern, even reproachful look.
Lucifer said nothing, just stared down at her, and she finally sighed and took the help. He helped the two women from the warehouse where they found a horde of black-robed figures standing with a very confused and concerned Fianna.
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “Th’ guy came out an’ they did nuttin’!”
Lord Lucifer: “I told them to do nothing.”
Fianna Donnelly-Kenyon: “Why th’ hell not?! He bae lookin’ half dead!”
Lord Lucifer: “And you think that makes him more dangerous or less?
Demon: “What now, my Lord?”
Lord Lucifer: “Help Asmodeus and Ashley to the van. Ensure the vehicle she used gets back. The rest of you? Torch the warehouse.”
The black-robed figures moved to act without hesitation or question. One of them took Ashley and the other, Maiko, and helped them toward the van while another continued past it toward the beater parked in the alley while shedding his robe and hood. The others moved past Lucifer and toward the warehouse.
Lucifer never even looked at Fianna. Even after she began to bark questions about who that was, what the hell just happened, and if Ashley was okay, he ignored her. There was no warmth in Lucifer now.
Even the look he locked her in when she tried to question him was cold.
This had gone on long enough.
It was time to end it.
