Chapter 10: Storm of Revelations!
Meanwhile, Spawn continued sneaking around the Empire Capitol Building in search for Razor. "Damn it! I know you're here somewhere, fool! I can sense your evil presence...but where are you?!" Spawn grumbled as he continued lurking in the shadows of the empty apartment building several feet away from the President's speech. It turns out that Spawn wasn't the only one looking for someone in this area.
In fact; just several stories below him, a lone woman by the name of Jill Valentine was searching for Chris Redfield. Now Jill hadn't been in on the action for a long time, due to some complicated personal issues with the mercenary Solid Snake and bounty huntress Samus Aran. But as soon as she heard the news of Chris Redfield still being alive, she immediately put her childish problems aside and swore to find out what the hell was going on with Chris.
The reason Jill was both overjoyed and outraged with Chris Redfield was two major reasons. The first reason was because she was in a close and passionate relationship with Chris, so after his supposed death she was of course devastated. But when she found out that he was still alive, she couldn't help but feel betrayed and hurt. Did Chris fake his death because he didn't care about Jill? That's what she wanted to find out.
The second reason she was looking for him was far more serious. She did not trust the UCF agency Chris was working for, and she also did some investigating of the man in charge of the UCF; Albert Wuotan. There was something very shady yet familiar about this strange man, but she couldn't quite grasp what it was. Either way, she was going to get some answers from Chris Redfield one way or another.
Eventually, Jill caught sight of Chris Redfield meeting up with several UCF agents at Sector 5; the President's parking spot. "There you are, you son of a bitch. I don't know whether if I should kiss you or slap the snot out of you when I finally meet up with you again. What the hell have you been doing all these months?" Jill hissed. Suddenly, Jill noticed something strange about one of the agents present with the group.
While the others were casually conversing with each other, there was one particular agent who just stood there staring into space. And then she finally noticed it; he was secluded from the group...and there was blood on his uniform. All the other agents had their uniforms clean as a whistle. "Aha...what have we here?" Jill whispered.
Back with Spawn, he also noticed the strange UCF agent and his strange behavior. "I found you, asshole!" Spawn growled. But just before Spawn could make another move, a voice stopped him. "Going somewhere, Spawn?!" a gruff voice angrily said. Spawn turned around to find an angry Batman facing him, along with Nightwing, Deadpool, and several X-Men. "What the hell are you fools doing here? Get out!" Spawn snapped. "Why'd you leave us like that?" Rouge demanded as she put her hands on her hips.
Spawn ignored them and turned his back to them, keeping his focus on the suspicious UCF agent. "Hey, bub! We're talking to you!" Wolverine snarled as he ran up to him. As Wolverine grabbed Spawn's shoulder, Spawn quickly glared at him. Wolverine was not one to be scared so easily, but Spawn's glare alone was warning him not to antogonize him further. "What is your deal, man? What's wrong?!" Nightwing exclaimed.
Spawn slowly turned around to face the others before motioning Batman to come forth. "What?" Batman demanded through gritted teeth. Spawn turned his head slowly before pointing to his suspect. "There's something wrong with that guy; look at him. You can see there's something off if you compare him with those other armed goons. Look!" Spawn whispered.
Batman observed the agent and gasped in shock; Spawn was right. There was something very wrong here, and it looked like things were about to get much worse. "My God...you're right. Why is he covered in blood? Why isn't he socializing with the others?" Batman wondered. "I think I may have finally found our killer. But that's not all! Come here and let me show you!" Spawn continued.
As Spawn walked across the rooftop, he led the others towards the ledge and pointed towards a limousine...the President's limo to be exact. "The president's limo? What about it?!" Batman demanded. "Look...those men have been standing around this area for the past 20 minutes. They're up to something!" Spawn warned as he pointed to two homeless looking men.
Suddenly, Ant-Man gasped as he saw something. "Uh...guys? I think we have a bit of a problem! You should check this out!" Ant-Man announced. Spawn turned to see what was happening, and he gasped as he saw the suspicious UCF agent walk slowly around the president's parking spot before sneaking his way into a back alley. "What the hell are you up to?" Spawn growled.
Suddenly to everyone's horror, the UCF agent transformed into Razor. But to make matters even worse, Razor was seen handing something to the two homeless men. "What's that in his hands?!" Storm exclaimed. "Oh God...it's a bomb! He's going to bomb the president's limo!" Ant-Man cried. "Well what are we standing around here, for?! Let's stop them!" Deadpool said.
But before he could take off, Spawn grabbed hold of him. "No! Not yet, you fucking idiot! You want the whole damn place to know we're here?! If we're to stop that killer, we're going to have to rely on stealth and take him out by surprise. But the only way we can do that is if we somehow gain entrence into that place without alerting any of those guards. I've spent hours trying to find a way inside, but it's too heavily guarded! Unless you have a better idea-" Spawn explained with an angry growl.
Suddenly, Batman touched his shoulder to get his attention. "What?!" Spawn snapped. "We've got another problem, Spawn. Look!" Batman warned as he pointed. Spawn let go of Deadpool and looked to where Batman pointed; he cursed as he saw Jill Valentine sneaking her way towards Razor's direction. "Damn it! Now what the fuck do we do?!" Spawn snarled. "I have an idea...Razor wants you, right? You keep him distracted and I'll find a way to disable the bomb. But whatever you do, don't attack him. The last thing we want are civilian casualties!" Batman explained.
For the first time, Spawn agreed with Batman. Spawn also remembered what Reika and Cogliostro told him about Razor being smarter and faster, and how he should rely on his wits and brain rather than brawn. "Ok...but if this plan of yours fails? What then?!" Spawn asked. "Do whatever you can to keep that pyscho away from the crowd; we'll do everything we can to help evacuate them." Batman answered. "Fine! But what about that girl?" Spawn asked as he pointed to Jill. "I'll handle her; but we don't have much time to waste. Come on, let's move!" Batman instructed.
Meanwhile, Razor handed the bomb to the two homeless bums...who were actually members of the Sons of Mayhem in disguise. "Take this bomb, plant in the limo's trunk, and set the timer to 5 minutes. Do not start that timer until that limo starts to move; understand?!" Razor instructed harshly. "Yeah, we got it boss. Come on; let's get this over with!" one of the SOM thugs replied as he grabbed the bomb and began to walk away.
As they snuck towards the limo, Razor walked away. But as Razor began to make his way into a dark and empty apartment that overlooked the president's speech, Spawn was lurking silently after him. As Spawn got closer, he shuddered as he felt an aura of pure evil surrounding Razor. "You're a Hellspawn...that explains a lot." Spawn whispered as he stood 10 feet away from him. Razor suddenly began to laugh ominously. "Actually...it explains nothing, Spawn!" Razor said with an evil smile.
Spawn felt absolute shock as he was pointed out by Razor, but what happened next absolutely terrified him. "You think that you're so fucking clever, don't you boy? I knew that you were coming for me and I knew that your little friends would try to spoil my fun. Luckily for you, I already had my boys leave a special surprise for the President hours before you arrived here. So either way...some more people are going to die regardless. Enjoy the fireworks, Spawn!" Razor explained before he burst into maniacal laughter.
Spawn growled with fury as he lunged towards Razor to attack, when suddenly the floor underneath him caved in and Spawn found himself falling several feet through the ruined apartment until he crashlanded into the basement. "NO! DAMN YOU!" Spawn shouted as he struggled to break free of the debris piled on top of him. Razor's evil laughter echoed while Spawn furiously tried digging his way out of the basement.
Meanwhile; the two SOM thugs finished planting the bomb in the president's limo, when suddenly they were attacked and subdued from behind. "Got them! Let's get their bodies outta sight and disarm this bomb before it goes off!" Batman whispered. "I'm way ahead of you, Batman. I'll disarm this thing faster than you can say-" Ant-Man began as he opened the trunk. But to Ant-Man's dismay, he noticed that there was something wrong with the bomb. "Uhhh-" he began. "What's wrong? You can disarm this thing, right?!" Wolverine hissed. "Yeah, listen...I can disarm anything...except for a dud!" Ant-Man said.
Everyone else felt their jaws drop as he said that. "What?! It's a dud? But...but where's the real bomb?!" Nightwing exclaimed. Suddenly, a shiver of fear hit Batman's spine. "Oh my God. The bomb is planted somewhere in the Capitol Building!" Batman exclaimed. "Oh no...what do we do now?!" Rogue gasped. Storm looked up at the sky and had an idea. "I've got it...hope you don't mind getting wet!" Storm announced as she flew up into the air.
But just as she flew up into the air, she witnessed a horrifying sight. Suddenly and without warning, a massive explosion took place in the Empire Captiol Building. "NO!" Storm shouted. The force of the explosion was so powerful, it killed dozens of bystanders in an instant. The amount of collateral damage was also too terrifying to comprehend; over several million dollars of damage was done to the Capitol Building, as well as anything else within a 1 mile radius.
Storm felt tears of sorrow and anger flow down her cheeks, causing a massive thunderstorm to appear. Thankfully, the rain helped to put out the fires...but the damage had already taken it's toll on the civilians. As Storm hovered back down, the shocked expressions on everyone's faces showed her that they knew what happened. "We were too late! It was all a trap; the President is dead!" Storm lamented.
The sound of a bursting wall startled some of the supers, but they were somewhat relieved to find Spawn coming their way with anger on his face. "He knew! He knew all along; he lured us all the way here for nothing! We failed!" Spawn raged. "Calm down, Spawn. It's not your fault!" Batman cried. "If I had just come here sooner, there wouldn't be anymore lost lives! How much longer can we take this? I can't let this asshole win; not again! How many more lives do we have to lose until we beat him?! TELL ME!" Spawn screamed.
Batman glared at Spawn before he finally sighed. "I...I don't know. But I do know this; he's toying with you. He's trying to make you doubt yourself. You can't let him beat you, even if he does kill more people. You have to remain strong. You have to stay calm!" Batman said gravely. "How? How can I remain calm if he's going to keep killing more people? How can you remain so calm after all that he has done?!" Spawn exclaimed in dismay.
Batman hung his head low as he sighed. "Because it's something I have to do! You think I wanted this to happen to me, Spawn? I never asked for any of this!" Batman began as he approached Spawn. Spawn felt suspicious, wondering if Batman was going to attack him again. But and several others were given quite a surprise when Batman removed his mask, looking at Spawn with deep sadness in his eyes. "You were right, Spawn. About a lot of things...but you're also wrong. I'm not going to deny that I've wanted to kill people...but I made a promise that I intend to keep." Bruce Wayne said with deep emotion.
Bruce Wayne sighed as he shook his head. "I was only 8 years old when it happened. I was just a child! But there it was; right before my very eyes. I watched as my own mother and father were shot and murdered in cold blood...simply for the paper you'd find in your wallet. At first, I didn't know what to think. I couldn't understand why they died, or what would become of me. But I will admit, that I had the same feelings you have now. And like a fool, I acted out on them without thinking of the concequences!" Bruce explained.
Bruce then explained to Spawn about how he went on a personal search to find the man responsible for the brutal murder of his parents. Bruce didn't hold back on any of the details, bringing shock to Nightwing and the others. "At first, I felt great. I felt powerful; I could scare people. I would put an end to crime as we know it! But as I grew older, I came to a sudden realization. My father wouldn't be happy with me if he were still alive; not with the way things were going with me. My father was a man of justice, but he was also a man of peace." Bruce continued.
Spawn took a deep breath before Bruce spoke up again. "My father wouldn't want me to live a life of vengeance. Despite all the evil in Gotham, there was still hope. And then it came to me one day; I would bring the people of Gotham City hope. But how? How could I bring hope to a place as dark and dismal as Gotham, you ask? There was only one way how; I had to show the evil of Gotham the true meaning of justice. And if I were to do that, I would have to show them the meaning of fear. That's why I do what I do, Spawn. I couldn't kill off the evil in Gotham...but I could teach them to fear me and to fear justice!" Batman finished.
Spawn nodded his head slowly, while Deadpool humorously blew his nose on a tissue. "That's beautiful!" Deadpool sobbed. Wolverine growled as he shook his head. Bruce finally put his mask back on before Spawn spoke to him. "I agree with you. People need to know the true meaning of justice...the only problem is, the threat we are dealing with is not human!" Spawn said sternly. "I know that now...which is why I will not interfere with you anymore." Batman replied. "Wait, what?!" Nightwing exclaimed. "Spawn...do what you have to do to Razor. But all I ask is that you don't kill anymore people!" Batman replied gravely.
Spawn sighed as he finally decided to respect Batman's wish. "You have my word; I will not take anymore human lives." Spawn vowed. "Good...now let's get out of here and head back to the Watchtower; we need a new plan and we need to come up with one fast. Razor is probably ready to strike again even as we speak!" Batman instructed. "If I may-" a female voice announced suddenly.
Everyone turned around to find Jill Valentine facing them; she overheard every word that was said. "I think I may have something that could help you guys out. You ever hear of the Sons of Mayhem?" Jill said as she handed Batman a file. Batman looked through the file and found photographs of notorious Necro Junkies and satanists; all members of the Sons of Mayhem. But what really caught his attention was a photograph of a group of the Sons of Mayhem...Razor was front and center of the photograph. "He's got followers? I'd be surprised but-" Batman began. "I'll need some help getting people to talk. Any volunteers?" Jill said.
Spawn decided to tag along. He wanted nothing more than to find and kill Razor. Batman, Nightwing, and Wolverine also decided to join up. "Where do we start?" Spawn asked. "Follow me; we're gonna pay a visit to a little piece of hell on earth. Ever hear of the Grishnak Club?" Jill replied. Spawn chuckled sinisterly as he nodded his head. "Now this oughtta be a good time." Spawn said out loud. "Remember; no human casualties!" Batman reminded. "You do realize that these maniacs are the ones who desecrated your parent's tomb? Trust me when I say that you'll have second thoughts about killing these fools!" Spawn retorted. "Enough is enough, all right? We gotta focus here!" Wolverine snapped.
As Jill led her new team into a van and drove off, the others decided to return to the Watchtower. "So...anyone else up for Chinese later? I'm buying!" Deadpool announced casually. "Ooh, ooh! Me! I want mushu pork!" Ant-Man cried happily. "I could go for some food myself!" Storm added.
But before another word could be said, Chris Redfield arrived with swarms of angry UCF agents pointing guns at them. "FREEZE! Stay where you are; don't you move!" a UCF agent shouted on a megaphone. "Ok...maybe not!" Deadpool said slowly as he put his hands over his head. "I hope they have donuts!" Ant-Man sarcastically groaned. "Wait a minute! Is that...Chris Redfield?!" Rogue exclaimed. "It can't be!" Storm cried. Chris Redfield approached his captives before he spoke on a walkie-talkie. "This is Agent Redfield, speaking. I've found them!" he said. "Excellent! Bring them in at once!" a voice replied.