A/N: Thanks for all the support for the story, I have been getting, especially to the regular reviewers (You know who you are). Anyway on with Chapter 4:
Theos eyelids flickered, as consciousness began to return to his brain, he groaned and tried to lift his head, but it throbbed painfully, due to the lack of oxygen that had gone to his brain. He also noticed that he was very thirsty, which really didn't help the headache; He took a deep breath and raised his head to view his surroundings, his eyes adjusting to the dusty gloom that hung around the cavernous room. He had been tied down to a chair, his coat removed from him and dumped in a corner along with his scythe and numbchucks, he sat there only in his trousers, boots and vest and gazed in awe at his environs. He seemed to be inside the top of the central clock tower of New Metropolis, light pouring through from the giant, translucent clock faces that stood either side of him, illuminating the dust particles that drifted silently downwards, caking every surface as they went, like they had done since time immemorial. The massive gears and pendulums, clunked away with no concern for the two that dwelled within their realm, the chair was placed on the edge of a large service ledge made of a thick metal mesh, right next to one of the giant clock faces, with ladders that snaked their way downwards between multiple other ledges until it reached the exit, hundreds of feet below him.
Mark was sat on the mesh floor, his back against the small concrete step that lead up to the clock face, he had detached his double ended sword into two singular objects, a hammer and a sickle, and was scrapping them together as if sharpening them.
"Boy" Theo thought, still coming round "That guy has a serious communist fetish". The wolf stood up suddenly when he noticed Theo's eyes opening; he approached slowly, placing his two weapons back into his belt.
"Wakey wakey Mr Arcreus" Mark said, striding purposefully towards him. He grabbed Theo's head by the quills and pulled it up to face him, causing Theo to wince in pain, Marks eyes searched his face as if his appearance was a interesting puzzle of illusion, "Interesting, very interesting"
"What?" Theo said, spitting out the words between his bared teeth, Mark let his head go, causing it to droop downwards once more, but Theos eyes didn't move, still fixed with an angry wroth on the wolf. Mark turned away and walked over to the titanic, glass clock face, his blood red eyes staring out at the featureless silhouettes of the buildings of the city beyond.
"For a demon, you're not very demonic. You're almost, oh I don't know…tame?" Mark said, a smile creeping upon his lips. Theo growled, his wrists straining against the rope that bound them behind the back of the chair,
"How-"
"How do I know that you're a demon?" Mark interrupted, his eyes flickering from Theo then back to the window, he noticed that his eyes suddenly became crest fallen , becoming tainted with some silent reproach "I made a deal, Mr Arcreus, one that I'm not proud of, but I had to".
"With who?" Theo grunted, pulling against the rope, feeling some of the individual treads snap or come loose,
"I had to save my family" Mark continued, ignoring Theo's question "It was the only option".
"With who!" Theo yelled at him, wincing slightly as the rope burned his skin as he pulled and twisted his wrists as much as he dared without giving his game away. Mark looked at him, making no effort to disguise the molten fury in his eyes,
"The Devil, Mr Arcreus, Satan himself". At this Theo burst out laughing, he knew that Mark seemed like he was being serious, but, The Devil? He had never heard anything as ludicrous in his life.
"I'm sorry but, The Devil doesn't exist" Theo said, through fits of giggles, Mark glowered at him,
"If Demons do, why not the Devil?"
Theo shook his head,
"Kid, The Devil is just a story that is told to demons to keep them in line, he's never been real and he never will be". Mark frowned, then turned away from the clock face, briskly then strode over to Theo, when he reached him; he kneeled down so he was at Theo's height,
"He told me that in order to save my family from become cursed creatures of the night, I would have to collect a hundred souls in a year, and that one day, I would meet a demon whose soul I could claim to help my cause. He even gave me you name, and he told me about you…what you really are. He told me about a plan he had for you and also gave me a series of numbers that I could use to my advantage when the time came". Theo leaned in so the two were almost nose to nose,
"Then why haven't you done it already?. Y'know, taken my soul?" Mark straightened up and pulled the hammer and sickle out from his belt, he resumed one of his previous actions and scrapped them against each other, causing sparks to fly, accompanied by the atrocious sound of metal against metal that sent shivers down Theo's spine.
"Those numbers are the answers that you crave" Mark said, tapping his right picket with his sickle, explicitly telling Theo where they were,
"The answer to the code" Theo stated, Mark nodded
"Yes, he told me as much" Mark looked over his shoulder at Theo; he ceased his struggling under his gaze and glared back at him. The wolf turned away once more, revelling in his gloating. Unknown to him, Theo dug his fingernail underneath some of the threads of the rope and tore them away, with a few more struggles; he felt the rope becoming weaker and weaker until it fell away. Mark heard the noise of the rope hitting the metal surface and turned to see Theo stood up, hands balled into fists, teeth bared. Mark chuckled,
"I knew I should have tied you up with something better, No matter" Mark said, his grip tightening on his weapons "I'll simply take that soul from you now". He rushed forward and swiped at Theo with the sickle, Theo dodged to the side, rolling away from the attack, before throwing a side kick out at Marks head, which caught him on the side of his head, causing him to jerk sideways. Theo stood to his feet, moving his weight between his feet, as if in a karate stance. Mark rose, anger in his eyes, blood running from a gash on his forehead, created by Theo's kick.
"Come on" Theo said, grinning "Is that all you've got?", Mark growled then swung both the hammer and the sickle at him, taking Theo by surprise. He moved backwards away from the mad swipes, but then his back hit the stone wall, his stomach sank, Mark raised the hammer high above his head, the sickle protecting his chest, as the hammer fell towards Theo's face, Theo ducked, causing the hammers head to smash into the stone, tearing some of it way, but before he could roll away, Mark lashed out with the sickle, slicing Theo across the chest, causing him to yell out in pain. Theo rolled away, one hand clutched to the gash that had been gouged into his chest as if with a ruler.
He pulled his hand away and gazed at the crimson blood that had formed a puddle in the centre of his palm, he tipped his hand away, causing the blood to drip onto the floor. Mark grinned, pointing the top of the hammer at Theo, before he knew what was happening, the tip glowed white hot and a jet of fire leapt out aiming at Theo, the hedgehog spun way, causing the fireball to roar past him and hit the metal mesh, the metal deformed and melted as the fireball hit it.
"Great" Theo thought "Fire powers, now that's just cheating!"
Mark launched another fireball at Theo, making Theo spin out of its path, the tips of his quills becoming singed from the heat, as the flames passed over him, seeing his chance, the wolf lashed at him with the sickle, the blade glinting in the twilight, however before he reached him, Theo reached up and grabbed Marks wrist, twisting it; causing him to grunt in pain, while he was distracted, Theo head-butted him on his forehead, causing Mark to reel backwards, clutching his head. Theo stumbled to his feet and ran towards his coat and weapons that had been thrown in a corner, he reached the pile and pulled the coat from it, throwing it on, before snatching up the scythe and the numbchucks which he placed in his belt. Mark lifted his head, and Theo saw his nose dripping with blood, running down his lips and chin, Theo spun the scythe in one hand then caught it, beckoning to Mark with his other hand, a cocky smile on his face,
"Come on you bastard" Theo said, eyes narrowed "The odds are more fair now"
Mark growled, but then smiled, he got to his feet, brushing some imaginary dust off his trousers, he tossed the hammer idly in the air and caught it by the handle.
"Ok" Mark said, oddly he put the weapons back in his belt and flexed his fingers, Theo grinned then charged forward, scythe raised, his eyes focused, Mark raised his hand sharply upwards before Theo could strike, the floor trembled under Theo's feet, before, with a scream of snapping metal, it buckled and fell, Theo falling with it. Theo saw the platform falling away from him, the dusty air rushing past him, whistling in his ears , the figure of Mark got smaller and smaller, until he crashed onto one of the giant gears, rotating slowly, playing its part in the gargantuan mechanism inside the clock tower. Theo raised his head, coughing slightly, spitting dust coated saliva out of his mouth, there was a horrible tearing sound from above him, he whipped his head upwards, just in time to see Mark remotely tearing away a gear from its hold, before setting it ablaze with a click of his fingers.
"Great" Theo thought, crouching down low, preparing to move at a moment's notice "Fire and Earth powers, this really isn't my day", Mark launched the flaming gear at him, the brightness of the flames almost blinding him, his boots slipped slightly on the dusty metal, causing him to lurch slightly to the right, however this movement was all the time the projectile needed, its spinning protuberances hit the gearwheel Theo was stood on, tearing straight through the metal and hitting the vast metal pole that ran through the centre and attached it in place, splintering the end in a shower of sparks and shrapnel, which rocketed outwards, some pieces cutting Theos skin, one piece speeded through the air and buried itself in the muscle between his collarbone and his upper arm. Theo cried out in Pain, however before he could address the situation, he felt the ground tilt downwards, as the torn and devastated gear began to fall way, Theo scrambled towards the centre, the angle tilting even more violently until it was almost vertical, the gear began to tumble downwards, however just as it detached from the pole, Theo jumped, reaching out with the scythe and burying the blade at the very top of the remaining fragments of the pole, with a shower of red sparks, the blade began to slip downwards cutting through the metal, until thankfully the blade lodged itself firmly into the pole with a forceful lurch that almost threw Theo off its handle.
He reached with his free hand and pulled the shrapnel out of his shoulder, grunting in pain, blood dripping down the coat , he turned his head to look at Mark, who was smiling, gazing at him like a hunter looking over his prey. Mark reached into his belt and pulled out two pistols, a fast as lightning, in the few seconds that Theo saw the pistols, he recognised them, two Pythons, he had used them before when he was in GUN and he knew that they were one of the most powerful revolvers in the world. Mark aimed and fired with both pistols, the bullets sparked off the thick metal pole above Theo, he swear he felt the slipstream from a bullet whistle past his ear. Theo yelled, as one of the sparks burnt his face and pulled the scythe out of the pole, he began to fall; Mark stared quizzically at him before following him with the sights of his pistols and fired at him. The bullets whipped past Theo, one of them tearing the leather on his left sleeve and slicing his skin, Theo grunted in shock, but his earlier injuries limited the pain. Theo clicked his fingers on his free hand, he felt a surge of power course through him as his powers ignited, his eye colour faded and began to glow pure white, he felt the demonic limbs form out of his back, their surfaces dripping with a black, blood like substance. Theo tossed the scythe backwards, and one of the demonic tendrils caught it, the end of the arm morphing and splitting into what looked like clawed fingers which grasped the handle. Theo thrust the palm of his hand at the air, aiming for the platform.
In one swift move, one of the tendrils stretched outwards and latched onto the metal mesh of the platform, Mark shot at the arm in hope of being rid of it, but the tendril was stuck fast, unperturbed by the bullets. Theo was pulled from his free-fall and towards the platform, like he had been grappled up there, the wind whistled past him as he flew upwards towards the platform. In a matter of seconds, Theo launched over the barrier of the ledge and landed on the metal surface, the tendril detaching itself and returning to join its brethren, dropping the scythe as it did so which Theo caught, Mark stood their shocked, but then a cocky smile returned to his face,
"Nice party trick" Mark said, replacing the guns in his belt, and taking out the hammer and sickle "But playtimes over". Theo threw his hand out towards mark, sending the unoccupied demonic arms bearing down on him, however before the inhuman extremities could grab him and tear him limb from limb, Mark let loose and enormous blast of fire that knocked the arms away, impulsively returning and shielding Theo from the blast, the force of the inferno blasting away their protective black blood lining and roasting them, setting a few a light. Theo grunted from the effort of holding back the fire, when he was sure that the inferno had ceased, he retracted the arms; everything around him was a blaze, the air around them shimmering and dancing from the heat, Mark stood opposite him, unperturbed from the heat, his weapons glowing white hot with the heat.
Theo felt something begin to run out from his nose, he lifted his hand and dabbed at the liquid, he retracted his hand and looked at it. Blood. He knew from previous experience that if he used his powers for too long, his body began to shut down, he would start to bleed from his nose, then his ears, then every other place on his body until he passed out, one boring Sunday afternoon, he had sat in a chair then activated his powers and waited just to see what would happen, twenty minutes later, a customer had found him in the chair bloody and unconscious.
"Looks like you're getting tied!" Mark yelled over the roar of the flames "From a simple mortal, your mother would be disappointed"
Theo growled "I didn't know my mother, but if you're calling me a son of a bitch, you wouldn't be the first!" Theo darted forward and grabbed Mark by the throat, before he could act any further, one of the brackets holding up the platform snapped, throwing the two sideways, smashing through the glass of the clock face and falling through the clear afternoon air. Out of the corner of his eye, Theo noticed that they had been inside the Great Tower, the largest clock tower on the continent, the AI system, Nicole is said to have moulded the tower on the image of another clock tower, a human one called 'Big Ben'. The two were falling towards the Lake of Rings below, its silky blue surface sparkling in the afternoon light, as they spiralled downwards, Theo noticed that the tower was alive with flames, the inferno ripping apart the stone and brickwork. The wind whistled through his ears, deafening him to anything else until the two smacked into the lake, the water enveloping them, soothing his injuries but also ignited more pain from the surface tension of the water.
He looked down, although his vision was blurry in the water, he saw that Marks body was limp and unconscious, he grabbed him by the scruff of the collar, he couldn't afford for him to die, he had information that he needed. He kicked upwards, one hand on his scythe, one hooked in Marks jacket, propelling himself to the surface, in a few seconds he rose the 25 or so metres and broke the surface, taking in a great lung-full of air, his vision blinded by the sun. Theo turned to look at Mark, he was breathing, and seemed to be slowly coming around, he kicked towards the nearest bank, kicking up mud and pebbles, erasing the illusion of the clear blue lake. Theo began to wade through the water, dragging Marks body and eventually dumping him on the muddy bank, Theo strapped the scythe onto his back and knelt down, he tapped Mark down, the wolf unable to stop him, he subconsciously knew what he was looking for, even though he didn't know it at first, he felt a bulge in the clothing on his jacket, he unzipped it and reached into an inside pocket and pulled out a envelope. Opening it, Theo took out a folded piece of paper, a drawing of the cypher and several pictures of himself; one was a ceremonial GUN picture of him in uniform while the others were numerous CCTV screenshots. Theo shook Mark conscious then grabbed him by the throat; he asked him the question that he wanted to know since Mark told him,
"Who was the person that told you about me?" Theo said, tightening his grip around Marks throat
"I told you" Mark wheezed "The Devil" Theo growled and punched him across the face, taking out his frustration upon him,
"Bullshit!" Theo yelled "You've made that up. Who was he?". Mark choked for air then responded,
"He only told me his name at the end" Mark gulped "He gave me all I need to harvest the souls and he told me all about your past and what you are" Sirens began to wail, slowly growing louder as the emergency services approached. "Do you even know what you truly are?" Theo frowned, his grip around his throat slackened slightly, "You're not half-demon, half-mobian…You're half-demon, half-angel". At this Marks eyes closed and he slipped again into unconsciousness. Theo retracted his hand from Marks throat and grabbed his wrist, pulling the sleeve down, revealing the cypher that had been burnt into the war monument, just like the demons that had attacked him at Demons Bane, he stood up, facing the vehicles that rounded the corner of the road that snaked around the lake.
Theo was surprised when GUN vehicles appeared around the corner, braking to a halt in front of him, doors being thrown open, Theo had completely forgot about the folded piece of paper in his palm, he unfolded it, revealing a sequence of numbers. The co-ordinates. Marks final words still swum around in his mind. He wasn't half-demon, he was half-demon, half-angel. But angels didn't exist, demons did, but angels were just fairy tales. Weren't they. He was thrown out of his thoughts by a GUN soldier that had approached him; Theo casually strolled past him,
"Go clear out the trash guys" Theo said, pointing with his thumb, over his shoulder at Mark who lay unconscious at the lakeside.
"Sir" The soldier called after him, Theo turned, "We've been ordered to bring you in, sir; as a secondary objective." Theo smiled and walked back towards him,
"Hey, hey, hey, wait a sec pal. I didn't destroy the clock tower over there"
"No" a female voice said from behind him "But you helped in fucking it over". Theo turned to see a black bat, dressed in GUN standard uniform with two swords held in scabbards on her back, her purple eyes were kind, but also his a dark focus which she could have only got from years of military training, her black and purple wings glinted in the late afternoon sun, giving her a nimbus which radiated around her. He recognised her at once.
"Cynder" Theo said "You look well"
"You don't" she retorted smirking slightly at his appearance "You look like shit"
"I'll take that as a compliment" Theo said, smirking "Why do you want me in anyway?"
Cynder glanced at Marks unconscious body being carried away on a stretcher and into the back of a waiting ambulance.
"This matter has now been classed as an infringement of national security. So it's been handed over to us, and that means that the King has handed your services over to us as well" Cynder stated, a matter of factly, Theo groaned,
"Aww, does this mean I'm not going to be paid now?"
Cynder blinked in surprise, then responded "No, the $120,000 payment is still there" Theo smiled
"Cool. Also do you have a cigarette?" Cynder frowned,
"No, but there's some in the car, I think" She gestured to a black motor vehicle that stood about twenty metres away Theo walked over to it and after a few seconds of searching found a cigarette box and a disposable lighter, he took one of them out of the box, placed it in his mouth and lit it,
"Great" Theo said "I really needed that to calm me down" he jumped into the backseat of the car, throwing his scythe down on the remaining two seats, Cynder still watching him , and put his seatbelt on, unperturbed by his injuries, looking more like a excited six year old waiting to go to the fun fair. Marks revelation haunted his mind along with all the other information he had boasted to him, somehow he knew that this was probably the biggest thing he had ever faced, so if he wanted to find what it was, he needed help. He leant back in the seat, took the cigarette out of his mouth and said,
"Take me to you leader".
A/N: And that's the end of that chapter, I won't be updating in a while due to exams and shit. But I'll try and update as much as I can. Remember if you want your OC in the story, please review with their profile or PM them me, I will also read and review any story that you want my verdict on.