Post by thefangedrose on Aug 16, 2024 16:34:49 GMT -8
Disclaimer
This series contains elements of a supernatural nature and will play a parody of the Judao-Christian faith. It is not meant to be mocking or subversive but simply done for a creative outlet.
You. Were. Warned.
There are also supernatural elements to this story now. Be warned of that in advance. The supernatural elements of this storyline were only hinted at before but asked by those who wanted this series for it to be added.
“The Pact” is a concept that kept Jesse’s original “Walk the Line” idea alive while honoring that none of them had these “abilities” five years ago to keep the original writer's concept alive.
I hope you enjoy it.
I give you Chapter 25!
Mood Setter: “Walk Away” Five Finger Death Punch
Civil War 2
Chapter 25
The Eulogy of Maiko Adachi
Location: The Bronx
Date: August 15th
Time: 12:25 AM
True to their word, one by one the Titans led the group to the stash house a block and a half over. Once they were all inside and all the possible entrances had been securely locked the truck was opened to reveal the strangely elegant stone sarcophagus inside.
“This what your missing?” Cronos asked, motioning over his shoulder to the stone box.
“That’s it.” Michael answered. “Hana….”
“Yes Sir.” The small asian woman answered.
She climbed up onto the truck and gave it a quick once over. Checking all of the various strange jewels and paying close attention to the crack across the bottom of the lid.
“No additional damage sir.” Hana recited as she continued her inspection. “Some of the runes are missing but we knew that and the crack isn’t any bigger.”
“Good.” Michael said with relief leaking into his voice.
“Bigger problem.” The Sins deep growling voice added. “How the hell do we get it out of here…”
“You know she’s watching.” Ashley added looking around at the blacked out glass roof panels. “She’d be stupid not to…and….”
“Sara is anything but stupid.” Hana agreed.
While the group looked back and forth discussing the Sariel problem Atlas was looking back and forth from the truck to the back of the building. Hyperion slid up beside his much bigger partner in crime and looked up at him.
“....The front of the building is brick but….”
Hyperion followed his gaze and suddenly his eyebrows go up slowly.
“Oh….You are a devious man.”
“...mind sharing with the rest of the class?”
Atlas grinned at Michael as he asked the question.
“Huddle up…here is what we’re doin……”
**
Location: Just over the New York / New Jersey Line
Date: August 16th
Time: 2:05 AM
They all knew the plan. Peyton and Michael had remained behind. It was agreed that this would simply be too dangerous. The likelihood that Lucifer had agents watching the Titans' New York home was simply too high.
Moving the truck out of the stash house hadn’t been a problem. The Titans rolled the huge gate up and the truck pulled out with the pair of vans pulling up behind it. Anyone watching wouldn’t have noticed two people missing from the convoy.
When they crossed the New York state line into New Jersey a collective sigh of relief left the group. No sign of any Demons or Hounds. Silk, who was driving the truck, snatched the CB off the cradle.
“I think we’re clear folks.”
The radio clicked to static for a moment before a voice answered hers. A female stern voice. The voice of Ashley Kenyon.
“Pull up into the rest shop you were at before.”
Static
Silk looked beside her at the masked woman sitting in the passenger seat and pressed the button.
“You sure?” She asked Ashley. “This place hasn’t exactly been good luck.”
Static.
“We’re going to have to risk it. They aren’t following us which means they are still back there and we need to warn them.”
The rig rolled on until it came to the barely lit rest stop. At this time of night there were only a small handful of people there. A pair of cars sitting near the center of the lot was their only company. One of which had their radio on loud enough for most of the rest area to hear.
At least the other car seemed to be empty. Perhaps a secret rendezvous of their own?
The truck slowly came to a stop near the rear of the lot and stopped with a hiss of the air brakes. The two vans pulled to a stop near the actual grass of the rest area. As soon as the two vans stopped the doors all opened and those inside began to pile out.
Silk and Shadow climbed down from the cab of the truck and began across the parking lot toward the group. That moment seemed quiet and calm, until the group had their attention pulled to the right (Silk and Shadow’s left) by a sudden loud crunching of metal.
They all turned in time to see the pair of cars that had been in the rest area suddenly get overturned violently with a loud crunch of metal as if something had hit them. One car slammed into the other and the second was overturned completely, the roof scraping across the ground as it moved.
Silk let out a curse and Ashley’s hands dropped to the glocks on her thighs. Her eyes scanned the cars until she saw it. A huge black head slowly coming around the side.
“HOUNDS!” She shouted.
Ashley then heard screaming, shots and a loud muffled pain filled grunt she knew came from The Sins.
They were everywhere. Silk was popping off shots at a dozen Hounds that seemed to come out of the pure darkness on the edge of the rest area and were charging at them. Another Dozen had come from behind the group, pinning Hana and The Sins to the vans while the pair tried to keep their teeth away.
And then one came running full speed at the vans and slammed its entire body weight into it sending the van flipping around where it slammed into The Sins, Hana and the small group of reformed former demons they had with them.
The only ones left Standing were Silk, Shadow, Ashley, Mako and Danielle. Trusting Twoey to protect Danika Ashley started forward, popping off shots at the small army of Hounds that were closing in on Silk and Shadow.
Aiming for the shoulder joints and upper parts of the front legs Ashley dropped half of them before something hit her in the side full force. Ashley found herself lifted from the ground where she slammed into the side of the car that was still playing music.
Inside she could see a young couple, late teens at the oldest, each of them with blood running down the sides of their faces from where their heads hit the glass. But they were breathing. Slowly Ashley’s head came up and she saw what hit her.
The boots of Josie Bridal, walking past the heads of Silk and Shadow who were both pressed to the ground by the strong paws of the Hounds. Turning her head slowly she saw The Sins lying on its stomach with its masked face resting on the pavement and eyes closed. Dead or Unconscious. Hana laid five feet beyond it in the same condition.
“How did….”
Danielle began but suddenly gasped. A pale painted face slid around behind her until Ashley could see it. Twoey…or more accurately….Asmodeus. Daniele’s eyes were wide and her mouth was open in a soundless shocked cry.
“I’m sorry for the Demon I’ve become.
You should be sorry for the Angel you are not.
I apologize for the cruel things that I did.
But I don’t regret one single word I said.”
Slowly as the words washed over her from the car she laid beside Ashley began to put all the weirdness together. Maiko’s sudden aggression in bed. Her sudden mistakes slipping into the singular instead of the plural.
She looked down as the pain washed over her at the realization. When she looked back up Danielle was slowly crumbling to the ground and Asmodeus stood behind her with her knives in her hands, each of them dripping blood.
“Just walk away.
Make it easy on yourself.
Just walk away.
Please release me from this hell.
Just walk away.
There’s nothing left to feel.
Just walk away.
Pretend none of this is real.”
“.....She died the night we escaped didn’t she?”
Ashley stared down at the pavement as little drops of blood appeared running down her mouth and nose from the impact of hitting the car. Behind her Josie climbed up onto the back gate of the truck and popped the lock before shoving the door up with a smile.
“...Ash…?” Danielle whispered weakly.
Asmodeus took two large steps forward into the empty space between the crushed remains of the two cars beside Ashley and the two destroyed vans.
“She was a weak little girl who thought she could reason with Lucifer.” Asmodeus mocked. “And she died afraid and alone….because of you.”
Ashley let out a guttural scream of regret, pain and rage at those words. A long, drawn out scream that came from the very soul of her body. But there was more to it. Another scream seemed to be overlaid over the top of it. A scream of loss and regret that was familiar to many of them. The scream of someone who had fallen in this war and called Ashley and Maiko her sisters.
The powerful scream of Aerynn Donnelly from beyond. Again they all felt the surge, ringing like a bell as she again gave another piece of her soul to her sister.
The eyes behind the mask snapped open at the scream and the Hounds all staggered backwards, clawing at their ears as if something in the parallel scream had caused them pronounced pain. The sword came out of Shadow’s sheath nearly the instant the weight came off her and she spun driving the edge into the side of the muzzle of the hound staggering away from Silk. Silk immediately unloaded into the face of the Hound behind Shadow.
The Hound closest to The Sins lunged forward the instant he began to get to his feet. His arms come up and grasp the beast by the jaws and with a snarl he rips his hands apart with aloud SNAP as the Hounds jaw snaps.
Still holding it by the face he turns and launches it at the Hound closing in on Hana as she lay finally coming around. The badly injured Hound slammed into its brethren causing them to roll backwards in a tangle of broken limbs from the force of the impact.
Restheathing both the canons Ashley scrambles to her feet, ripping the once again shining knife from her boot. But she doesn’t change at the Hounds or even at Josie. No, she charges at Asmodeus.
“Just walk away.
Make it easy on us both.
Just walk away.
There was never any hope.
Just walk away.
You already know the deal.
Just walk away.
Pretend that none this was….
That none of this was…real.”
The two former soul mates and lovers began to exchange knife strikes. Each of them dodging around the strikes and counter strikes of the other. The two knew one another so well that it was like a dance.
Ashley grabbed one of Maiko’s wrists in her free hand and jumped, driving her knee into the side of Asmodeus’s hand sending the knife in it clattering across the pavement. Asmodeus slashed high with the other and Ashley ducked under it and brought the knife up only to find Asmodeus nearly back bend into a handstand then cartwheel back to her feet.
Ashley charges in and Asmodeus swings out a slash for the face but Ashley drops to a knee sliding under it and bringing her own knife around but Asmodeus lifts a leg planting her feet into Ashley shoulder socket stopping it dead.
There they stood with Ashley on her knees and Asmodeus’s heel on her shoulder as she stood over her and Asmodeus smirks.
“Gonna miss this?”
There was no human in Ashley’s face. Only pain and rage as she pulled her shoulder back, causing Asmodeus’s leg to fall and jumped back to her feet lunging at her again. Maiko slapped the attack away and slashed, catching Ashley across the cheek.
For a moment it was like the whole world froze for the pair. Asmodeus and Ashley standing panting and a new thin line of blood running down Ashley’s cheek. It was real. It wasn’t a joke or a game. Asmodeus had actually hurt her.
“It was a decoy…” Josie screamed as she saw the empty inside of the trailer.
Suddenly a pair of boots appeared and caught her in the face. Shadow had a hand planted on the truck's rear step and had nearly cartwheeled up. Shadow landed in a knee and the sword slashed out but Josie lifted a leg causing the strike to sail under her raised foot. The boot came down suddenly and pinned the sword to the steel trailer floor. The other leg raised and took the masked woman in the face, sending her falling out the trailer and onto the back of Silk who was backed into the trailer by a pair of Hounds.
Across the rest area Hana had pulled her shirt off leaving her in only a sports bra and had her hands pressed to Danielle’s back pressing the shirt into the wound left by Asmodeus’s knives.
“Dean!” She shouted fear in her voice but the Sins had his arms around a writhing Hound. The Hound had long since stopped trying to bite and was not just trying frantically to get free as it squeezed. The sounds of bone cracking and demonic yelping rang out. “DEAN SHE’S DYING!”
The Sins squeezed one final time resulting in a loud, snapping CRACK before letting the Hound go. It landed limp at his feet, mouth moving but no sound coming out. It’s head snapped around before rushing to Hana and and sliding into a kneel.
“Dani?” Dean’s voice whispered and touched her face. “Can you hear me?”
“..Dean….?” Danika said after a bit of struggling. “...Ash….Help…Ash….”
True to what she said, Ash had frozen in place staring at Asmodeus in pain.
“Twoey….no…”
Asmodeus had her arm back to drive the knife into her chest. Dean broke into a sprint and reached her just before the knife reached its target shouldering Asmodeus aside. The red and blonde haired woman hit the pavement and rolled backwards, arms outstretched as she slid backwards to a stop.
“Go.” Josie shouted.
“NO!” Asmodeus snarled. “This ends now!”
“Sara’s orders!” Bridal screamed as her boots hit the ground. “GO!”
Asmodeus face took on an ugly look as she locked eyes with the shell shocked Ashley.
“Next time.” She promised.
Then without warning the two women and the Hounds turned and took off. Those who were either dead or near dead seemed to just dissolve into a thick, oily like black sludge thick with the smell of sulfur.
Ashley didn’t give chase. Dean turned and sprinted back to Hana. Kenyon then suddenly dropped to her knees, the knife clattering from her grasp and let out a pain filled scream of agony.
“TWOEY! NO! DAMMIT NO!” She screamed as she beat her fists on the pavement. “YOU SAID YOU’D PROTECT HER DEMON! YOU PROMISED!”
“...Fuck…” Dean whispered. “She’s in no condition…fuck…You three…”
He motioned to the three reformed Demons.
“Come with me now. You…” He called back to Silk and Shadow. “Check the kids in the cars. Make sure they are breathing. Call for medics if you need to. Make sure and scramble your phones if you do!”
Whatever Dean intended to do, the three men followed. When he placed his hands to the top of one of the overturned vans they realized what he planned. Dean wasn’t strong enough to do this himself….The Sins could, but not him. So they helped.
It was dented to hell when they succeeded in turning it over and the door barely opened but it was functional.
“Get her back to Michael.” Dean ordered. “I can promise you that the Titans have a shot doc on call.”
“How do you know what that is?!” One of the three men asked shocked.
Dean furrowed his brows a moment as if he couldn’t quite track down the memory and shrugged. A life long since gone. One he didn’t even know was ashes yet.
“I just do…now go.”
The entire posture seemed to change at that moment and the shoulders straightened and all the compassion seemed to drain from the eyes deep in the sockets of the mask. Long strides carried It across the parking area to where Ashley was still kneeling in rage and loss.
“Get up.” It growled. “No way those shots aren’t bringing attention this close to the city.”
Ashley’s jaw clenched but she pulled herself upright.
“What do you plan to do?”
The Sins looked behind them at the van as it pulled away with everyone else inside. They pulled up beside them and His eyes then returned to Ashley.
“Weapons inside.” It growled.
“They are legal.” She snapped. “You think I’d carry unlicensed?”
“And recently fired.” It responded in the gravely hiss. “You think they won’t test that?”
Ashley knew of course he was right and took a moment to unstrap her holsters and hand them to silk through the driver's window.
“Go.” Ashley told them. “Straight to Michael….take care of her.”
Danielle raised a hand and pressed her palm to the cracked glass. Ashley did the same just before the van pulled away and muttered to herself.
“I fuckin hate not hating you.” She turned back to face the masked man. “What now? Something like this? There’s gonna be news cameras.”
The Sins paused for a moment to consider it and ultimately shrugged.
“Can’t be helped.” It growled “We pretend to just be here…blend into the crowd that's likely to gather as news gets out…We can’t risk them coming back in front of a rest stop full of people…”
“You do realize we’re going to end up on the news that way?” Ashley asked. “Michael won’t like that.”
The thing level two cold empty eyes on her.
“Do I look like I give a fuck what Michael likes? He…won’t leave…not as long as people might be in danger.”
Ashley looked away but flashed a little smile at the horizon.
“...Yeah…Dean can be a pain in the ass that way.”
“Would you forgive me if I told you that I cared? Would you be sorry if I swore that I’d be there? Please forgive me for laughing when you fall. I’m so sorry….but I never cared at all.”
