"Are you ready? Superman has just informed us that we're about to leave." Cassandra Sandsmark asks me as I stroke a picture of my late love Tana.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." I answer as I put the picture down in my pocket.
I run my hands through my hair trying to put my grief aside as I walk out into the War Room of the JLA Watchtower.
There, Superman goes over the plan of action. While he's talking I stare out of the Watchtower windows. It's freaky to see the Sun black. It just isn't… natural.
Soon, we teleport en masse to the focal point of this nightmare…
New York City. That's where the vampires performed the ritual and then started turning people into their kind.
"I… I don't know if I can do this…" I say to myself as I fight my way through hundreds of Vampires… watching as slowly but surely… they whittle down our numbers.
I watch as Batman reluctantly puts a stake through his partner Robin's heart after Robin had been bitten.
"Alvin…" I say under my breath as I break the face of a Vampire that comes towards me. But that's when I hear a female voice scream…
"Eyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!"
And I recognize it as Cassie. I whirl around seeing a vampire put his teeth into her slim neck…
"Cassie!" I yell. But all it took was a moment's weakness with my guard down and by the time I could feel his breath on my neck it was too late.
"It's time for you to join us Human!" I hear the creature cackle as I feel his teeth pierce my skin and the blood being slowly drained away.
And with the sudden nausea setting in, I could only scream…
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
And Kon-El wakes up. Tears are flowing down his face. He scrambles for his gun and finds it by his self-made rock bunk. He picks it up, cocks it, puts it up against his chin and then after closing his eyes…
*Blam
*When Kon opens his eyes again, he sees the gun on the floor and a hole in the wall to his right.
And Inace is in his face.
"What in the 9 worlds did you think you were doing?"
"Me? What the hell were you doing? I finally pull the trigger and you stop me?!?"
"Were you ever human once?"
"Well, the answer to that question would depend on who you asked…" Kon says in a sarcastic voice. And before Inace could retort, they both heard a wailing…
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Wa…wa…waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
"Now look what you've done you big lummox! You scared the baby!"
"Well, you take care of Daphne. I'm going outside." Kon said as he picked up his Grey 'S' shirt, put it on and headed above ground.
"What did you call her?"
"Daphne. That's her name. I named her after an old friend of mine on the Internet… when there still was an Internet." He says softly as he continues walking.
Once he reaches topside and far away from where Daphne and Inace will hear him, he fell to the ground and starts crying.
"I finally pull the trigger today and I'm stopped? Why? WHHHHHHYYYYYY?!?" Kon yells as tears stream down his face. He slowly gets back up and looks around with tears in his eyes.
"It's him. It's his doing…. DAMN YOU GOD!" Kon screams as he suddenly throws a punch to his right, which imbeds itself into an abandoned building.
"And damn you Zauriel! This is all your fault!" He growls as he grabs the building and throws it into the skyline.
Kon then leans against a building that stood by the one he just threw up into the sky.
"Why did this have to happen to me? Why was I forced to become an inhuman thing? It's because I'm a clone, isn't it? It's because I'm not one of your precious children. Damn you God. Damn you." Kon said as he slumped to the ground and put his face down into his hands.
*
Sigh* That poor man. I hope someday that he'll let go of his anger. But I've got other things to look into. Remember it's my job to watch.So now I turn my gaze from Kon-El to that of Queen Brocking's castle.
*
Slap* and Queen Brocking hits the floor."You promised me that your children would kill God's daughter. Yet when I got at the site, I saw only two bodies and one of them had a C-section done to them. I found two piles of ashes and there were NO traces of the baby. I'm very disappointed in you Victoria."
"Funny, this is the first time you've slapped me outside of the bedroom…" She said as she stood back up. Satan then grabbed her by the throat.
"This is no time for jokes. I've worked very hard to taint this pitiful mudball that God loves so much. Every day that passes on this world is my revenge for what God did to the other fallen angels and to myself. I'll never let this world turn back into what it was. NEVER. * Throws Victoria across the room* Now… I hope you won't disappoint me any further. Goodbye." And Satan disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Grrr… if it wasn't for the fact that he maintains the spells that make this world ours I would…"
"Would… ould… ould… ould…" Bart begins to babble…
"Shut up animal!" Victoria yells as she yanks his chain hard.
"Scarlet!" And as Victoria bellows this, Scarlet steps out of the shadows.
"Yes?"
"Get in touch with your lover Michael. I want him to lead the Knights out on a mission to locate that baby. Tell Michael to take four Knights with him and scour this continent and send the rest to scour the rest of the world. In the meantime, I will indulge in some… fun." Victoria said as slides a panel open were a couple of chained humans sit. She unchains one and drags him into her bedroom. The human begins to scream and claw at the floor in a vain attempt to get away.
As Scarlet walks away she hears the bloodcurdling screams of the human as Victoria rips the poor being apart.
Scarlet continued to walk down the hall till she came to a door. She opened it and started heading down a flock of stairs that went to the barracks.
The barracks are the housing districts of sorts for the Royal Knights of the Bat. When Kon-El began his war against the Vampires, they were created to kill him and to be a 'peacekeeping' force for the Queen if any other Slayers reared their heads. As you can guess they haven't been that successful.
Scarlet looked around and then saw him lying on one of the beds.
'Him' being Michael Hammer, the leader of the Knights of the Bat and Scarlet's lover.
He's 6'1 with a very toned body. He has a very striking hair color, white. He also has thick white sideburns that run down his face to his chin. His blue eyes resembles what passes for his soul nowadays... Ice.
"Hello lover, back for a return engagement?" Michael said coyly as he got off the bunk.
"Unfortunately no. The Queen has ordered you to take 4 members of the Knights and search the Daughter of God here in this country. The rest are to scour the rest of the world for the child."
"Oh really?"
"Yes and be careful… we believe the Slayer might be the one who has her. I don't want to lose you." Scarlet said as she got close to him.
"Don't worry, I've been itching to meet this 'Slayer'. He possibly can't match my skills with the sword!"
"Just don't get yourself killed. I don't know what I'd do without you." Scarlet says and Michael silently laughs. He already knows what she'd do, she'd find someone else the same day he died. But he puts this out of his mind and then says…
"I won't and I'll be back." He then puts his hand on her chin, raises it and they kiss. He turns around, puts on his armor, grabs two swords and heads outside where the Knights are training.
"Michael, don't die. I need you… need you for your love and your power so I can replace Victoria as Queen… with you as my King." Scarlet thinks as she smiles and walks back upstairs...
Back on the other side of what used to be the United States, Kon-El is packing his things, planning on journeying to the Mid-West. As he is doing this, he looks at his belt lying on the ground with empty slots for stakes. By merely raising his eyebrow, the belt floats into the air and then stake by stake, they fly and land into the empty slots until they're full.
While Kon does this, Inace flies around looking for anything she can help with. She finds a little bag and starts looking in it. What she finds piques her interest…
"Hey what are these?" Inace asks as a little statue falls out from the bag. It's a statue of a female with an inscription that reads 'Tana'.
"Get away from those!" Kon roars as he literally flies across the room and snatches the bag away from her. He then picks up the Tana statue and puts it back into the bag.
"Well, what are they?" Inace asks in her squeaky voice.
"That's none of your business Tinkerbell. Your business is to figure out what you're going to carry, because I'm not going to carry all the supplies."
"No need! Watch this." And with a simple wave of her hand, everything in the room except for Kon's belt, a baby carrier, and the stone furniture that Kon created, disappeared.
"Whoa, it looks like I have to make an apology. Seems that there's two things you're good at." Kon said with a sarcastic smirk.
"Oh ha, ha, very funny." Inace remarked.
Kon went and put on his belt. He then picked up the baby carrier and looked at it funny.
"What's this thing supposed to be?"
"You put Daphne in that thing then you strap it to your back and you carry her around that way."
"Oh wonderful…" Kon thought as he picked up Daphne and strapped her into the carrier. He then put on his leather trench coat and then strapped the carrier onto his back.
"Let's go." Kon says as he walks out of his cave then flies into the air.
About 30 minutes later, Kon-El is flying over what used to be Kansas. Suddenly Kon stops in mid-air and descends to the ground.
"Kon, what are you doing?"
"Well Tinkerbell, with my sight I saw Knights of the Bat approaching. That means I'm gonna have to fight and it would be best if I did it without Daphne on my back." Kon says as he unhooks her from his back and lays her on the ground.
"Is there anyway you could hide her?" Kon asks.
"Yes, I'll make a hiding space here underground…" Inace says as she concentrates and she reshapes the ground beneath them to be a haven much like the one Kon-El created in Los Angeles. She then concentrates again and she teleports Daphne there.
"Good, now it's time for you to see what it is that I do best." Kon says with a little smile as he sees the Knights approach.
Michael is the one to see Kon first. So he lands on the ground and the four other Knights follow his lead.
"Ah the infamous Slayer. Greetings, I am Commander Michael Hammer." Michael said as he bowed.
"Am I supposed to be impressed?"
"No, I'm just being courteous. Unlike my brethren, I try be chivalrous like the Ancient Knights of England for which my own Knights are molded after. So while I am obligated to kill you, I'd rather not be barbaric about it."
"Strange that a bloodsucking thing like you would try to be chivalrous. So, what would you suggest we do instead of an old fashioned slugfest?"
"Heh. I heard you were sarcastic. I suggest a good old, fashioned sword fight. *Draws a Katana from one of his two sword holders* This is a Katana. In my mind, the finest blade ever made. In feudal Japan, Samurai used these in battle to defend their country thus I do too. *Throws that Katana to Kon and takes out another one and promptly sticks his into the ground* Do you agree to this?"
"Why not? I was just going to kill you with my stakes, but it'll be more fun with a sword."
"Ah, good we agree. *Turns and looks at his men* I don't want any of you to interfere, you got me? You'll suffer greatly if you do." So Michael took off his red armor and his under-garnet to show a very trimmed, if pale, chest.
Kon decided to do this as well. He took off his trench coat and his gray shirt revealing a buff but trim chest.
"Are you ready?" Michael asked as he picked up his Katana and got into a battle stance.
"The question is are you ready to die?" Kon asked.
"Men and their theatrics…" Inace said under her breath…
"Heee-yah!" Michael yelled as he ran towards Kon.
Kon-El got into a defensive posture but wasn't expecting Michael to flip over him. When Michael landed crouching, he swung hard to his left hoping to cut Kon in half. But Kon-El spun around and managed to block it with his sword. Facing each other now, they were both swinging their swords at the middle section of their bodies, parrying each and every thrust.
Kon-El then kicked Michael in the crotch and he howled in pain. In retaliation, he swung wide and cut Kon-El's midsection.
"Wha? This…this thing cut me! How could that be?" but before Kon could go into deep thought about this predicament, he saw Michael's boot heading for his head. It connected and Kon was sent reeling a few steps.
Michael took this opportunity to flip over Kon again and tried to send his Katana through Kon's stomach. Kon-El immediately fell to his feet and did a sweep kick which knocked Michael on the ground. Kon then tried to stomp of Michael's face but he rolled away in time.
As Michael got back up, he saw a mist forming around behind Kon-El. Michael ran forward, parried a forward thrust that Kon gave and pushed Kon-El onto the ground. He then thrust his sword forward and impaled it into the head of one of his Knights who was trying to sneak up behind Kon and kill him. The Knight turned to ashes and left his armor behind.
"I told you what would happen if you tried to interfere! If any of you dare try to do what Knight RS just did, you'll suffer the same fate!"
"I…I must admit that for a bloodsucking monster you have balls. I'm sure Queen Brocking isn't going to appreciate the fact that you offed one of your own Knights." Kon says as he gets back up.
"She'll never find out. My Knights hear what I want them to hear and see what I want them to see. The Queen will only hear that you killed one of my Knights."
"Ah, using your political power I see. But let's continue without any interruption shall we?"
"Let's." Michael says as this time they both charge.
Michael this time tries an overhead slice, which is blocked by Kon's katana, which he holds diagonally. Kon then knee's Michael in stomach and swings his Katana at an arc above his head, which then comes down upon the hand Michael is holding his Katana with and slices it off. The hand dissolves into ashes before it even touches the ground.
"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhh!" Michael screams as he suddenly lunges with left hand trying to grab his fallen Katana but Kon puts his foot on Michael's left hand before he can reach it.
The with a shit-eating grin, Kon lifts up his Katana again and then…
*Slice*
And off goes Michael's left arm. He grimaces with pain then says weakly…
"Go ahead, kill me. I lost to you in a chivalrous fight fair and square." Michael said as he lowered his head awaiting Kon to slice it off.
"Oooooooooh no, you don't get off that easy. Killing would be pointless now. I've done something even worse; I ripped your pride to shreds. You were so proud and so sure of yourself when you arrived it was just so much fun knocking you off your perch. So I'm going to let you live with the fact that you lost a fight fair and square to someone better than you. Oh, and give your Queen a message. Tell her to stay the hell out of my way. I was bad news before, but something just happened to me and it's made my mood even less hospitable. So for the next 6 years it would be advisable to stay as far away from me as possible. You won't like the consequences if you don't. *Grabs Michael by the throat* You will now go with your men and report back to the Queen. You'll make no attempts to follow me. Do you agree?" Kon says as he squeezes Michael's throat.
"M…my word is bond."
"Good. *Throws Michael towards his men. Kon then walks over to Michael's armor and rips off one of his Katana holders* Oh, and I'll be keeping this katana as a Souvenir. Whenever we met next you can fight to try to get it back." Kon says with a winning smile. Michael just shoots him an evil glare.
So one of Knights picks up Michael's armor and Michael, who is now standing, flies off into the sky with his men behind him.
"I've got to admit that your fight was pretty impressive. How'd you learn such good sword skills?"
"From an old friend named Bruce. He taught me how to fight in those first few years… *Face saddens a bit* but I'd rather not talk about it." Kon says as turns away. Suddenly Daphne appears at Kon's feet.
"Well, where are we heading to?"
"Tinkerbell, I'm thinking of heading south towards Tulsa. It's hot and muggy, but I know a couple of good hiding places." Kon-El says as he picks up and straps Daphne to his back as well as his new Katana.
"I thought I told you to stop calling me Tinkerbell, Mr. Personality."
"If you think that's an insult, once upon a time I was actually voted that…," Kon says as he smiles coyly then slowly lifts into the air and fly's south.
"Probably Mr. Has-The-Personality-Of-A-Brick-Wall…" Inace fumes as she follows Kon southward.
*Heh* I knew I picked the right fairy for the job. They both have fun trying to outdo one another.
Oh, you're wondering just what happened to Commanding Knight Michael Hammer? Well, let's look in on his predicament 3 hours from now…
At this time, Michael is lying on his bunk on his own private quarters. He had his shirt off and trying to read 'The Art of War'. His right hand has grown all the way back, but his left arm while grown and functional, hasn't re-grown all the skin yet so the muscle still shows and it's bloody.
"Damn me for a fool! He was right I got too overconfident for my own good. But the Slayer made a deadly mistake letting me live… let's see how confident he'll be when I rip off his…" But before Michael could finish his thought, Scarlet came into the room.
"Leave me be Scarlet! I'm in no mood for company." He growled.
"I heard you lost your hand and arm in the fight… and moreso…" She said seductively as she slinked up to his bed.
"Yes, as much as I loathe to admit it to you, I lost my pride in the fight as well…" He said as turned his head away from her.
"Well, I know to get more than your pride back up…" She said with a smile as she began to rub his stomach.
"Like what?" He said in mock confusion. Without replying, she pinched his left arm a bit. He hissed in pain a little bit of blood leaked out. She licked it up and while staring at his face liked her lips.
"Something like this." She said as she pushed Michael down on the bed and they kissed…
To Be Continued…