Gotham's Hellhound
By TimeAndLife21
In the dark of the night, an old house near the edge of Gotham was groaning under its weight. The storm outside wasn't doing it any favors. The harsh wind was hitting the shingles and loose paint on the outside of the house.
It was what going on inside, that was much more...dangerous.
A stealthy young figure slunk through the darkness, dressed in black and combat ready, roaming the house looking for it's target.
The only thing that was not black was a white mask that covered the face. It was shaped in a mold of a wolf's head. Black, grey, and green vines covered the sides, the ears and went over the eyes and the snout. The nose and mouth were black. The eyes showed glowing green slitted eyes.
"Come out, Come Out… This is ridiculous." a female voice huffed as she carefully slunk around the old corridors of the house.
"The spirit hides in this place, I can smell it's corruption." An alto growling voice echoed in the figure's mind.
The young figure sighed, closing their eyes and opening them again. This wasn't the first time she went on the hunt, there won't ever be a last either.
"Why am I here again? Isn't there others that can do the job better than I can? I don't even get paid for this. " The young voice spoke out with frustration.
"There are others are already doing their jobs where they are stationed. You should be so lucky to have been accepted to be my vessel." The voice sniffed.
"So lucky…"The young woman drawled.
5 Years ago...
Pain was all she felt everywhere, pain that she wished she had never had to endure. She had finally managed to get away. She didn't know how long she had been held captive by the men that had kidnapped her. She had been hurt, but she couldn't do anything or else they would find her family and hurt them… maybe kill them.
She stumbled in the small alleyways of Gotham. Sticking to the shadows and made herself small to be passed over. There were other kids on the street too, most of them from Crime Alley, but she stuck to herself. Avoided any light that might shine on her. She didn't want to be found. Because if she was found… Her mom, her dad, her big brother… they would be killed.
So to the shadows she stuck to them like they were her lifelines. She didn't know how late it was in the night when she stumbled into the subway. The trains were not running and the place was empty. She rubbed her arms, shivering, crying silently, and she bit her lip to not whine or sob in pain. She heard something. Voices.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on their ends. She recognized those voices. The cruel, taunting, and oily voices that washed over her when- She shook her head. She needed to hide, hide, hide. She saw a vent that was broken but it was still nailed on by a single nail. She got on her knees and crawled carefully and quietly over to the vent. She wrapped her fingers over the broken vent and pulled carefully. She heard something groan loudly and the vent broke away from the wall, she accidently let out of yelp as the vent door scratched her arm.
The voices were coming closer, they held more urgency.
"There she is!"
"Grab Her!"
"Don't Let her get away!"
She scrambled to get in the vent, nearly managing to get inside when a hand grabbed her thin leg. She screamed bloody murder and kicked at the hand that had grabbed her.
"NO! I WON'T GO BACK! I WON'T GO BACK!" She managed to kick the owner of the hand in the face, she heard a crunching sound and she felt the hand let go and she scrambled deep into the vent, hearing the voices trying to follow her. She kept going down the dirty vent that was filled with cobwebs and rats. She didn't care. She just wanted to get away from those men. She had to get away.
She finally managed to get out to the other side and squirm onto the dirty floor of the subway and crawled to a nearby corner. She winced and huddled into a ball and she nearly let out a sob. She took in a deep breath and sighed. She needed to keep going…
She got up and winced. She looked down at the leg that was grabbed by that man. A bruise was starting to form and she tentatively placed her bare foot down. She looked up and she found herself in a strange corridor. Looking to her left and saw an abandoned train car. She looked at the tracks and to where it might go, but there was a cave in to where the tracks went. And the door that locked the train car in was sturdy. She won't be taken again anytime soon.
She wanted to lay down and sleep… so she did just that. She found a few newspapers and laid down on the hard ruined seats and tried to make herself comfortable, closed her eyes and fell into darkness.
Present Time
The young woman found herself in a rather large room. It looked reminiscent of a dining Area. The place may have looked like it was abandoned in a hurry, but there was a lot of dust and webs everywhere.
"Good thing I'm not allergic to dust." She rolled her eyes as she made her way through the room. The cabinets were holding old china and she briefly thought about stealing some of it to pawn it off for money.
"Taking from the Dead?" The voice spoke critically.
"Not like they would use it anyways." She muttered as she wandered around the room.
She stuffed her hand in her pocket and took out a large silver pocket watch from the depths. It was a rather hefty size, the size of her palm and then some, with a menacing wolf's head baring its sharp fangs was etched on the front of the watch. It was a necklace of sorts, with a silk emerald green ribbon connected through the top of the watch. It looked like a fragile and fine piece of craftsmanship, but it was created to never break. Supernatural Artifacts like her's are hard to destroy when your life is literally connected to it.
Lightning struck, illuminating the dining room for only a moment.
A click was heard, and a constant ticking was sounded from the pocket watch. It was loud. Much too loud for any normal pocket watch...but this item wasn't normal. The face was see-through, she could see the gears and springs that was inside. They were all working fine. The roman numerals and hands glowed a dim white light showing the time.
The ticking was irregular. As if it was ticking in some twisted type of morse code in rapid succession. She had to learn how this thing was connected to her, in more ways than one.
"It's around here somewhere...not sure where this damned spirit is…" She spoke as she walked around as she placed the watch around her neck.
The lightning struck again, illuminating the room before she felt an invisible force throwing her to the side and making her crash into the old dining table.
Letting out a groan of pain, she quickly got up before she was thrown again, this time into a wall.
"Really? You are letting a damned soul throwing you around?" The voice cackled.
"Oh, shut up." She reached to her side and grabbed her sawed off shotgun, loaded with salt rounds, from her side and aimed at the being in front of her.
It was a ghoulish looking spirit that have been haunting this place for years. This old home was due for a bulldozing, but contractors and the like haven't been able to even get on these grounds because of a few things that kept happening. Such as an infestation of bugs, mice, spiders, and all other sorts of unnatural behaviors of tiny animals coming to the defense of this place.
It looked like a young woman who had been dried up. Long stringy hair went down to her knees, pitch black eyes glowed red in the dark, the corpse-like skin was stretched tight over her skull and her yellowed teeth were bared in a crazed smile. She wore a tattered white nightgown.
She let out an unearthly scream before she flew at the living woman. The young woman took aim and fired at the spirit. The salt rounds hit the spirit and the spirit went flying backwards.
"Get it before it escapes!"
She ran towards the ghost and her gloved hands became encased in shadowed claws and reached for the spirits head. She dug her claws into the spirits head, black blood spilled onto the floor, making sure it won't escape and she accessed her powers.
Her body became surrounded by a green and black glow as the spirit howled in pain and wrapped its boney hands around her bare wrists. The boney hands suddenly lit up on fire as the rest of the body.
"Sorry! But it's time to pass on! Heaven Or Hell!" The Masked woman shouted as the spirit dugs her claws into her wrists even more before it suddenly twisted on itself before exploding outward into dust. The shockwave blasted the girl back and hitting a wall, before she slid down and was knocked out.
She didn't realize that while the spirit was set on fire and exploded, the tablecloth on the dining table was lit on fire.
Flashback
She woke up, shivering and cold. The newspaper didn't help much to keep her warm. She got up and out of the train car, limping out of it. She needed to get out of here.
Maybe she could find the police station. She just have to avoid whoever would be looking for her.
She shuffled her way down a corridor, not really paying attention to where she is going. She passed a wall that had a very old poster on it. Age wasn't kind to it, but she could read it.
"Meet Solomon Grundy!"
She shook her head and she kept walking. She needed to find a place to get help. She was holding herself and limping down a rather warm corridor. Maybe she was close to the outside?
She came across a door, nearly rotted off its hinges. She opened it slowly, only for it to almost topple on top of her, she managed to scuttle out of the way as it landed with a loud crash, making her jump out of fright.
"I really want to go home." She whined and started to cry.
She closed her eyes tightly, tears running down her face and she entered the doorway. She found herself walking on old wooden boards, so she had to be careful as she traveled.
She came across another door. This time it looked a bit more sturdy and she opened it up. There was light, although it was dimmed and green. She wondered why it would be such a color, before she made her feet move her further in. She came across some old rickety stairs that lead downward. She didn't want to go down...but she needed to keep moving. She didn't want to be caught again.
She slowly made her way down the old stairs, the wood groaning under new weight that hadn't been felt in possibly years, and it was still holding up luckily. She managed to go down all 137 stairs and found herself on solid ground. The stone beneath her feet was ice cold, as were her surroundings. She shivered and rubbed her arms so that she can be warm.
She thought she was close to the outside? Was she going deeper into Gotham's underground or was she getting out? Either way, she moved forward. She came to a fork in the road, so to speak.
One corridor to the right was dark and there was hardly any light down that way, the left wasn't as good, but had a bit more light. She took the left, thinking that the more light there was, the closer to the outside she would be…
She was wrong.
She didn't know how long she walked with a painful limp. All she could think of was her family. Her sweet dear mother, Her hardworking father, and her annoying older brother. She wanted to be with them again. She promised that she wouldn't run off again like a spoiled brat. That was what got her kidnapped.
She shuddered again as she went deeper and deeper into the corridor. When she came across a ladder leading upwards. She couldn't cry anymore. The pain in her body dulled her to her emotions and the only thing keeping her going was that she was going home. She will go home come hell or high water.
She grabbed the ice cold rungs of the ladder and slowly made her way up. The rungs were rusty and she cut herself on a nail once or twice, but she wasn't going to stop. Not when she feels so close to getting outside.
She reached the top, but she hit something solid. She looked up and saw that it was a circular disk. A Manhole? She held on tight to the rung of the ladder and pushed up with her good arm. She put all her effort into moving the heavy thing to the side, but it was easy once it was sliding off the hole.
Was she back in Gotham? She climbed up out of the hole and laid down on a cobblestone street. She was tired, in pain, cold, and she was hungry. She was breathing heavy and she had no more tears to cry. She rolled over and with only moving her eyes she looked around. She was surrounded by when looked like old buildings. It reminded her of old west movie buildings.
The wordings on a sign looked faded, but she could make it out just a bit.
'Wonder City Jewelry'
She blinked once, twice then three times, before a sense of dread entered her body. She got out of the dark corridors of the abandoned subway tunnels, but she ended up in a place that she had only read about in history books.
Gotham's old city. Wonder City. It was said to have major problems, so it was told in her history books, a supposed alternate energy source (Not mentioned in the books) drove the denizens of Wonder City insane, and so, they quarantined Wonder City, and over the years, Gotham was built over it, becoming a tomb.
She looked skyward and saw that there were steel and concrete ceiling that spanned the entire city. It was said that it was too risky to tear down Wonder City, and decided to turn it into a catacomb of history that no one should repeat.
She got up and looked around. The streets were empty, stores looked like they have been frozen in time, there was still things in there that haven't even been sold. She needed to find a way out of here. She wandered the streets until she came across a curious thing. A large pipe.
Normally pipes were hidden underground, but this particular pipe was up out of the ground. She went to take a closer look at it and saw that there was a sheet of glass that showed a green liquid churning through the pipe.
She then had an idea! If this pipe can lead her to the outside, she should follow it to the source! She saw that once on tv...maybe it could apply here.
With a newfound courage, she followed the pipe to where it's source could be, but it only took her closer and closer to a new beginning.
Present Time
"Wake up! THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!" The voice shook through her mind and woke her up.
She coughed in some smoke and opened her eyes behind her mask. The voice in her mind was right, the house was on fire and she needed to get out before the firefighters and cops came.
She woozily got up, the heat wasn't bothering her, but she would rather not be burned to a crisp. She stumbled through the burning hallways, narrowly missing a beam that almost fell down on her, but she was lucky. She maneuvered through the fire and managed to get out through the back door of the place near the kitchen and jogged away from the burning house. She hid behind a tree just as firefighters and cops showed up to take care of the fire.
She felt pain in her wrists and she looked at them. There was burned in the shape of hands around her wrists and she rolled her eyes as she groaned.
"Big Brother is not going to like the fact that I'm hurt." She groaned as she looked up at the moon in the sky.
"It's not the first injury you have ever received. Besides, you'll heal up in a couple of days." The voice chuckled.
"I have school tomorrow, and it will look bad if I show up at school with bandages around my wrists." She muttered back.
"Make it a fashion statement." The voice smiled.
"Yeah, because emo chic is so in today." She bit back sarcastically, as she walked away from the scene of the crime.
"The spirit has been taken care of. At least it won't bother other people anymore." She spoke as she got closer to the place where she hid her motorcycle.
"Yes, our job tonight is done. I vote for strawberry Ice Cream as a celebration." The voice spoke with pride.
"I'm not eating ice cream this late at night, I'm going to go home and sleep… we can have ice cream tomorrow." She bargained.
"And listen to your music too?" The voice asked politely.
"I'm still in awe that an ancient being like you likes the modern type of music." The young woman adjusted her mask as she approached her black 2007 ducati motorcycle.
"I believe it's what you mortals call it, 'Getting with the times.'? I still enjoy older music from older times, but I admit...your music has grown on me." The voice chuckled.
She uncovered her bike and stuck the key in the ignition and revved it up. She pressed the clutch and off she went. She got onto the road and made her way back to inner Gotham. Back to the apartment in where she and her brother lives. Along the way, she could remember when she first met the being that now inhabits her body.
Flashback
She followed the pipes of Wonder City and was in awe at how large this place was. Hunger forgotten, she wondered how this city was now a tomb hiding underneath Gotham. She came across skeletons that littered the place, meaning that some of these people must not have made it out before the quarantine. The pipes were leading her to somewhere. She picked up her pace. Maybe she had found a way out?
She came across a great gate. It was made of steel and great pillars and a concrete fence blocked it of from the public. She noticed that it wasn't locked. She pushed at the gate and with a groan, it was opened up. She hesitated before she entered. She limped down the broken cobblestones and came across a church. The pipes were leading into it. Outside the church was what looked like two beings. A male and a female, dressed in old armor. The male statue was carrying a smictar and the female was carrying a scythe.
She gulped. What was a church with pipes of green liquid doing down here?It looked pretty creepy to her, to be honest. She walked up to the door and saw a knocker that seemed to have a head of a demonic like dog. She felt shivers shoot down her spine, but she steeled herself and grasped the chilled doorknob and opened the door. It squeaked open and she walked in.
The inside was empty of what should look like a church, at the back of the church where she looked, there was a large pool of green water. She walked closer and closer to take a look. She could feel it's warmth coming from the pool. Perhaps it's a natural hot spring? Thoughts of escaping this place gone, as her curiosity got the better of her.
She walked closer and closer until she reached the edge of the pool. She kneeled by it and she leaned in close to the waters. She could see her reflection. Tangled chocolate hair, dark brown eyes, skin pale from not seeing the sun in forever, she was thinned out since her capture. Her skin had dark bruises and healing bruises on her body.
The clothes she wore was forced upon her. A slutty type dress that one of the men forced her into was now in shreds. She blinked. She hadn't seen herself in a mirror for a while, but seeing herself like this made her recoil in disgust.
She stood up and sighed. She needed to leave. She wanted to get out. Just as she turned around, she saw a rat at her feet and she squealed in fright, slipping on the edge of the pool and falling into the waters.
The shock of the waters enveloping her, forced the water into her nose and lungs. She was drowning. She was a good swimmer, but something about these waters were dragging her down into the dark.
She didn't want to die! She didn't want to leave this world just yet. She had her regrets. She regretted arguing with her parents, calling her brother stupid. She regretted running off. She regretted that when she planned her escape, she regretted not taking the kids that were also there with her.
She wished…
The waters suddenly felt like she was being shocked to death. Like a toaster was thrown into the waters. She twisted underwater, trying to make sense of where the air was. Then the shocks went away, she felt her body sinking dowards head first.
She opened her eyes as saw a pocket watch. It was floating downwards with her. It was connected with a green ribbon, making it look like a necklace. The front of the watch had a wolf's face in front baring its teeth.
She heard a low voice in her head.
"Do you wish to live?"
"I want to live. I don't want to die." She wearily replied in her mind.
Was this part of dying? Hearing things that shouldn't be there? Maybe this would be easier for her to die if she just went along with the voice.
"Reach out, child. If you wish to live, but your life will never be the same again."
"I don't care… I want to see my mom, my dad, my brother...I don't care what it takes." She replied as she reached out for the pocket watch with both hands and grasped it and pulled it close to her body.
"What is your name?"
She said her full name.
"What's Yours?"
The voice spoke back.
"I accept…" She spoke back.
The last thing she saw, was a great beast of a dog, or wolf, or whatever it was. It had fur as black as the void, teeth white as ivory and as sharp as knives, claws like white spears. It was deadly as it was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. Its eyes was green as the waters around her, glowing with power. It lifted it's head and let out a triumphant howl.
She blacked out.
She was found on the edge of Slaughter Swamp. She didn't know how she ended up there. Some stupid teenagers went there on a dare and had found her. They called GCPD and an ambulance.
She remembered seeing blurred faces as she was being taken to the hospital. She was in great amounts of pain that she moaned and cried in pain. Her body felt like it was burning up.
She could hear the paramedics talking.
"Young Female, Age approx. 10 years old, running a fever and suffering from body trauma." One paramedic rattled out.
"Her fever is too high! At this rate we won't make it!" The female paramedic told her colleague.
"Keep pressing ice on her. We are almost there!" The male ordered as she could feel a cold relief on her forehead for only a minute.
Everything was a blur. She could remember hearing nurses and doctors taking her to the ICU. Her eyes were open, but instead of hearing voices of the doctors...she heard something in her mind… it was low and comforting.
"You'll be fine...I promise."
She had blacked out again. It wasn't until three days later that she woke up to her family being there at her bedside with sad faces. When she spoke, they all became teary and crying tears of joy. She had cried with them, promising that she would never run off again, apologizing over and over again.
She stayed up for quite some time talking with her family, but she refused to speak about her kidnapping. The doctor suggested therapy to assess her mind and see if she wasn't unstable. She had agreed, but only because if she didn't she would be sent to Arkham Asylum temporarily if she refused.
It was the fourth night when she was alone in her hospital room when the great beast of a wolf-dog came from the shadows. She would have screamed. She should have screamed. But she didn't. The being came closer to her, touching foreheads with her gently, her glowing green eyes boring into her dark brown ones.
"I am Kritanta, and you are mine." It spoke before it melted into shadows and it covered her body.
She panicked briefly as the shadows sunk into her skin. She felt warm as it was doing so. The shadow's felt like silk on her skin before it was absorbed into her body. It felt like something was settling in her like a second skin. The pocket watch that she had grasped in the waters was now around her neck, settling comfortably on the top of her sternum.
"You shall make a fine vessel. I have high hopes of teaching you to work with me." the being spoke in her mind before quieting.
Her life was forever changed.
Present Day
She pulled up to the nice apartment complex and parked her bike in the parking garage. She took off her mask and her hood and sighed. She hooked the mask onto her hip and walked up the stairs. She noticed her reflection. Instead of the dark brown hair that she once had, she had it dyed black. Her dark brown eyes were sharp and alert, and there slivers of emerald green in them, making them look much more exotic.
She entered the building and went to apartment 416, the apartment that she and her brother lives in. She took out the keys to the apartment and opened it up. She made sure to lock the door behind her and groaned softly as she stretched herself out. Being thrown around by a spirit was hell on the muscles.
"Elliot...I'm home." She smiled as she heard footsteps running towards her.
"Sophia Marie Wolfram! It is late as hell and why were you out this late at night!" She heard the voice of her brother charging into the living room where she took a seat on the busted couch.
Her brother was a tall man. He had wavy brown hair and sharp blue eyes. He had freckles dotting his face and he was shirtless and wearing sweats that said 'Gotham U' on on of the legs.
"I had to take care of a damned spirit. No Biggie." She said as she reached for a water bottle that was on the coffee table in front of her, she opened it up and took a swig.
"I thought Kritanta knew it was a night to rest. You have school in the morning!" Elliot sighed as he sat next to her.
A little dark shadow popped up from the inside of Sophia's hoodie. It looked like a puppy's head. It had glowing green eyes and it was smiling wickedly.
"Our work destroying evil spirits is never done." The little shadow spoke.
"It's not Kritanta's fault...I did some research of anything out of the ordinary and this house popped up. Figured that It must've been haunted and I took care of it." Sophia smiled as she took another drink of water.
Elliot spied her wrists and gently grabbed her arm to examine it. He sighed, leaned forward towards the coffee table and popped open a door full of medical supplies.
"You got burned. And tomorrow is your first day of school." He muttered as he grabbed the burn ointment and gauze.
"Well...good thing I have you around." She smiled.
Elliot shook his head with a smile and started to work on his baby sister.
"Well, I did say I was going to stick by you for this, but next time… be home by eleven. I nearly had a heart attack when I didn't see you in your bed." He pleaded.
"No promises, but I'll try." She smirked at him.
"Just because you have powers, doesn't mean you can't live a normal life. I'm your big brother, let me be one damn it." He cursed.
Sophia softened and nodded. She was no Superman, or Batman, or even Wonder Woman. She was just a human who had an unfortunate accident when she made a mistake. That mistake made her who she is now.
Gotham's protector from the dark and supernatural. Whether it be vampires, demons, or spirits that haunt Gotham at its heels, she would be there to destroy those who dare threaten the real world at large. The supernatural better watch out and not come to her city.
After all… Gotham has a guard dog, and she is…
Hellhound.
TAL21: And I made a new story just because I can. This story is a slow burn, and I hope you guys will enjoy this one. I'm taking a bit of a break from Harry Potter at the moment because rewriting a 23 chapter story is a hell of a time. So I decided to make a Damian/OC story. Again, it's a bit of a slow burn type of because our main characters (Damian and Sophia) are in High School. Also, ages are a bit sketchy so I figured it would go like this: Sophia - 16, Damian - 16, Tim - 22, Jason - 24, and Dick - 27. Bruce...well lets make him forever 45 shall we? As for Alfred, well he keeps his age close to the chest, so i'm not going there.
You might be thinking, what the hell I'm going with this story, you'll find out soon enough. I hope you guys liked this first chapter and hit me with what you think you will be seeing in this story, we will see other awesome characters of whom I shall not name, and OCs that you will either love, hate, or love to hate or vice versa. XD I'm making a mix of the comics, the Animated Series/Movies, and a sprinkle of Arkham Series in this. I'm not very knowledgable about the comics, but I do my best to stick to canon. If anything, I'm expanding on the supernatural in Gotham. and Yes, I will unashamedly take some things from Supernatural, and other fun supernatural like shows. Hit me with your best shot of flames and i will make it burn so that it is warm in my apartment.
So please leave awesome reviews and let me know what you think of the story so far! I'll see you guys in the Next Chapter. :)
Question Time!: Who are your favorite Robins and why? Mine in Particular is Jason Todd and Damian Wayne. Because they are both badasses and I love their story arcs in various comics/Movies. :)
Keep On Reading and Writing! :D