Chapter 11

"C'mon," a brunette said to her friend, "the movie's about to start."

"I know, I just have to make a pit stop first."

"Make it quick."

A blond-haired girl quickly trotted in to the Ladies' bathroom.

After she was finished, while she was washing her hands, she noticed that the noise and commotion had suddenly ceased. The only sound that remained was the running sink. She felt very awkward, wondering what had just happened. The girl turned off the sink, dried her hands, and walked out.

There was a large, square booth in the center of the theatre's lobby. Cash registers were placed two to a side. Behind the cash registers was a containment cylinder, it was quite immense in size – but it did house machines that release beverages, popcorn, and candy (among other treats).

The theater's lobby was empty.

All she could see were the clothes of the people, lying on the floor. The pieces of clothing weren't in a pile, they were perfectly aligned in the shape of the human body that each fit them. A possible hat, below it was the spread-out shirt, the pants or gown, socks, and shoes at the bottom.

It was as if each person was sucked out of their clothes.

The blond-haired girl was baffled.

She gazed around, trying to comprehend on the situation and decide what to do next.

However, she did hear a vague and barely audible whimper. There was a cashier hiding under a waiting bench, quivering with fear. The girl turned and walked up to him.

"Hey! What's going on? Do you know what happened?"

The man just cried while she continued to ask questions.

"Who did this?"

A green reptile-insect creature was crawling on the ceiling, just above the two "survivors."

It slithered down to the wall.

"Answer me!"

The man pointed a shaking hand behind the girl and let out a faint yelp of panic.

"What?"

The girl suddenly felt an excruciating pain in her chest. She looked down to see a green spotted tail stick its point in her bosom. She gasped in pain. The strange thing was, the impalement wasn't going to kill her, and it wasn't meant to. Something else was ending her life.

Something was taking it away.

She felt her blood, body, skin, cells, everything being sucked out of her.

The tail was draining her, and she could see it… and feel it. The tail slightly expanded as the liquid seeped into it.

Her hands became like raisins or prunes. She felt very dry. Then she saw her hand shrivel up, and disappear within her own sleeve. When her eyeballs were sucked out, she saw no more.

The man stared in horror as the monster was drinking her like someone drinks from a soda cup at a fast-food restaurant. Slurp. He saw her condense, like balloon that suddenly loses its air. Nothing was left but her clothes, and of course the hole that had poked through it.

The clothes slid off the tail's tip, fell to the floor, and assumed the same position as all the others.

A croaky voice emitted from the round mouth.

"Now that I've taken care of that little vermin, you're next, little man."

It took a step forward, gently setting down its three-fingered foot.

The silence was broken by the open of a door. The monster knew who it was.

The hiding man saw it spread its wing-like extensions and take to the ceiling again.

The door closed.

A blond-haired boy in a black coat walked toward the center of the lobby, in his hand was a Jason Hockey Mask. He knew that he was too late.

"Hmm. Wonder what's playing."

His sarcastic joke went without response, and he let out a deep sigh.

"Time to go to work."

He noticed the quivering man and approached him.

"Hey there, bud. Looks like you've seen something horrible."

The man didn't answer, but continued to shake.

"C'mon. Let's get you out of here, okay?" Then he muttered to himself, "I've lost his trail again."

"H-He's still h-here."

"Huh," the boy acknowledged, not sure whether to believe the traumatized man. Then he heard a crack, and knew the man spoke true.

"There you are."

The reptile lunged at him.

He slipped on the mask, whipped off the coat, threw it at the assailant, and pushed the civilian out of the way. The monster crashed into the bench that the man was hiding under. The boy gave him a slight nudge and pointed to the exit.

"Go. I'll take care of this."

The man didn't need to be told twice.

The monster tore off the coat with his light green hands and black fingernails. He had dark spots all over his body, with the exception of his chest, which was orange (unlike the rest of him). His mouth looked like the backside of a roly-poly, and opened in the center whenever he felt compelled to speak or utter a sound. He forehead expanded so that each side of the head looked like two thick horns.

The boy was afraid, not confident. This was a ruthless monster, who wouldn't hesitate to kill him. His mission was not yet fulfilled, so he believed that God would protect him. He spoke as if he had just seen an old friend in prison.

"Hello, Cell."

The vicious reptile responded, "Hmph. Demon-bred."

"This time, you won't escape."

Cell chuckled, "Silly trash, I have no intention of leaving. In fact, I won't until I've drained each and every one of your cursed cells."

Jeff wasn't wearing his jetpack, but was equipped with his brown-leather gauntlets, that housed the usual. Holsters at his side, and a surprise in the back of his belt.

Cell leaped at Jeff, who dodged to the left. He drew and aimed his right pistol, while Cell tried to recompose himself after the failed lunge. Jeff pulled the trigger, and a red surge of energy made its way to Cell's eye. He clutched it violently.

"Cursed human!"

Cell whipped around, lashing out his tail at Jeff, not to absorb, but to knock him at the lobby's booth. Jeff flew over the edge and behind the counter. Cell leapt up to the counter, and stood poised to finish off the boy. Regaining his vision, he looked and saw no one below on the floor.

"Careful around these stoves," said a voice off to the side, "you might burn yourself."

Cell looked up to see Jeff let loose his flamethrower directly in the monster's face. Cell shrieked and jumped back, trying to extinguish the flames that covered his body.

"Too hot?" Jeff inquired, "Then maybe you should wash it down!"

He kicked a button on the soda machine, discharging a flood of grape soda that sprayed all over Cell. He was spitting, annoyed that he was just blanketed in purple.

"You little pest!"

Cell quickly got up and hurled himself at Jeff, who pulled out a fat gun from the back of his belt, pointed it to the ceiling, and shot it upwards. It was a grappling gun. The wire yanked Jeff up just in time so that Cell completely missed, and landed on the grill, singeing himself.

"Told you to watch those stoves."

Jeff sent a wrist rocket at the booth, causing an explosion that threw Cell against wall, along with fizz and popcorn. Jeff lowered himself back to the floor.

---

Constantine saw a bright light, then a concrete ground. He landed face-first on the pavement. Luckily, he had his mask on to protect his face.

Constantine groaned, and slowly got to his feet. He noticed that he was surrounded by cars, old cars. Cars like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Dodge Durango, and the SUV had all gone out of style years ago.

"Where am I? Did Skelmar send me to another dimension?"

Constantine remembered reading a Stephen King story entitled The Langoliers, in which everyone in the world was gone – except him. He was encircled by vehicles, but there was no one walking around. The sun was out, so they weren't asleep. Was this like The Langoliers? Was Constantine thrust to a place in which he is the only one who exists?

Constantine thought it best to find answers from the closest building – the one where all of these cars were parked outside of.

He approached the glass doors.

Inside were two figures.

A strange thought had occurred in his mind, and he muttered under his breath.

"Please, God. No."

---

Jeff watched as Cell rose for combat, and was already calculating his next move. He reached down to a puddle of soda. Cell pounced at him. Jeff splashed some of the liquid at Cell's head, blinding the beast, and allowing him to sidestep out of the way.

Cell cursed and spat as he tried viciously to wipe his eyes.

As soon as he did, he was overcome by blasts that hit every part of his body.

Jeff was pulling the trigger rapidly, but then heard the door open, and another boy entered.

He stopped firing.

Jeff turned his head to look. Cell considered this a prime opportunity for attack, and charged his opponent. Jeff was still fixed on the new arrival, and he held up his index finger to him.

"Hang on," Jeff said calmly, "I'll be with you in a second. Let me just finish this."

Without even looking, Jeff pulled out his grappling gun and released the bolt and wire. It hit Cell in the chest, and went through him.

Cell gagged.

Jeff pressed a small button that slowly began to reel Cell toward him. The monster planted his feet firmly in the ground, and laughed ferociously.

"You actually think you can pull me toward you, Demon-bred. You don't have the strength for it! You're too weak!"

"Actually," Jeff retorted, "I wasn't going to have you come to me. It's quite the reverse."

Jeff let go of the gun, and it sailed to the insect.

Cell looked down nervously as it came to him like a roll of measuring tape. When the fat gun finally reached Cell's chest, he saw a small blinking light and heard a faint beeping noise.

The beeping slowly came to a stop.

Jeff turned to his visitor just as the gun exploded and Cell's green innards were smeared everywhere.

Jeff slowly took off his mask.

"Now," he began, "where were we?"

The other boy in turn removed his mask, and stared at Jeff as if he were looking into a mirror. Each of them automatically assumed who the other presumed to be, but to clear up any confusions, Jeff extended his hand.

"Hi. I'm Jeff."

Constantine was reluctant to shake it, because of fear that he might change the future. He admired Jeff for taking the initiative, and decided to go along with it.

"I'm Constantine."

Then he added in a grave tone, "I guess… I'm your son."

"Hmm," Jeff pondered, "I never expected to see you."

Constantine yanked his hand away. He had done it now. He began hitting himself in the head, muttering to himself.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I've been sent to the past! And now I'm going to wreck everything that hasn't happened yet! I am in so much trouble."

"That's not true," Jeff said kindly, apparently he had heard every word, "maybe you were meant to come back. Why did you land right outside a place where I was battling a monster? Maybe we were meant to meet. Although it's strange, my mother never spoke to me that I would meet my son."

"I don't think I'm supposed to be here. I should try to leave… now."

"Oh come on. I just met the son I never knew I had. I never knew what you'd look like."

"Well, it is good to meet my father."

Jeff and Constantine walked out of the movie theatre. For the poor souls who had been devoured by Cell, there was nothing more they could do. They approached a truck, one that Jeff would later ram Rampage with and meet Raven.

Constantine remained silent, and Jeff stopped before he got into the car. He guessed why Constantine wasn't saying anything.

"Not what you expected, huh?"

"No. You're not," Constantine answered honestly, "But you look exactly like mom described you."

"Really? She must have a good memory."

"She talks about you every day."

"Huh. I must have made one hell of an impression."

Constantine nodded.

"Well," Jeff said kindly, "It looks like we both could use some reloading," pointing to his gauntlets.

---

Jeff opened the door to Constantine as he entered the Chapel.

"Where's Father Thomas?" Constantine asked.

"Rome."

Constantine acknowledged with a simple twitch.

"What's bothering you?" Jeff questioned genuinely as he opened a cabinet door and strapped on his jetpack.

"It's just really weird meeting my dad. I'm the product of a regular guy and an Azarathian. It creeps me out… slightly."

"How do you think I feel? My dad is Count Dracula. Y'know, the guy who sucks blood that you read in books? And my mom is an angel. I find it very difficult to understand how my mom would even handle the thought that she had to sleep with a vampire. I still despise Dracula for it."

At the sound of the last sentence, Constantine felt all the hurts and suffering. He became angry.

"Why weren't you there?! What kind of father are you?! Didn't you love me?! Didn't you love… my mom?"

"I… I made a choice, son, or I will. I chose to die."

"Why? Why are you going to die?"

"It is the only way to save your mother. My father is supposed to bite her, and she will die, unless I… put you in her."

"Ugh! You're talking about my mom!"

Jeff smirked, "I'm talking about my wife."

"But isn't there some other way? What if you were to not meet my mom?"

"Then you wouldn't exist."

"I don't care. Your actions will put Mom through so much suffering. I grew up hating my father, because what kind of person would cause a simple woman to cry herself to sleep every night? You did something to her! You--! You cause her so much pain! Why? Don't you love her?"

"Of course I love her! I'm going to give my life for her! Do I want to? Yes! Do I want a life with her? Yes! Do I want to spend every moment in her arms? Yes! But I have to die. And if I don't, she will! I can't stand the thought of losing her."

"You selfish jerk! You don't want to go through the pain of loss, so you'll put Mom through it! Is that it?!"

"No! If I—"

Constantine interrupted him, "Why don't you let her give her life for you?!"

"Because she's not supposed to! I have to be the one! I don't want to die, but I want to give my life. If I didn't, I'd be betraying her."

Constantine finally understood. His grip loosened, and he became less heated.

Jeff continued in a sorrowful tone, "It's a no-win situation, Son. If I die, she suffers for the rest of her life. If I don't, she will, and I will be called selfish for not-wanting to sacrifice myself. I can't win, either way."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I just… wanted a father."

"So did I."

Jeff sat down in a pew, he put his head in his hands. There was long silence. Jeff finally looked up, and pointed to Constantine's mask.

"Glad to see you still use my mask," then noticing the scars, "What happened?"

"Oh, Mom tried it a couple times."

"Really?" Jeff burst out with laughter, wiping the tears, he said, "Guess it's not her line of work, eh?"

Constantine joined him in laughing, "No. Guess not."

The son looked at the father, and they both sighed after laughing.

"Dad, I keep feeling that something terrible is going to happen, something in my life. How do you deal with the terrible experiences that beset you? It is a concept which I never seem to grasp."

Jeff nodded, "Constantine, I survive because I have faith. I have faith in myself, I have faith in others, and most importantly, I have faith in God. I trust that whatever he commands me to do will be the right thing, even if it means sacrifice and suffering."

"But what if I am meant to destroy the world?"

"Prophesies don't always come true, but they do if they come from the right mouth. What you have to remember, is that you have to meet God half-way."

"Huh?"

"Let me try to explain: A while ago I was hurled off the side of a cliff. I was gagged and bound with a ball and chain that would make me sink into the fifty foot deep body of water below me. Now, at the time I knew that I was going to meet your mother. I knew that I would survive to do so – because my mother had told it to me in a vision. However, that did not mean that I could not do anything to prevent my own death. Point being, I had to make the prophesy come true. I just couldn't sit back and let it happen. Put your life in God's hands, my son, and you'll always make the right choice."

"But Dad, there are many people who want me dead. I feel that no matter what choice I make… it always seems to be the wrong one, or at least the one that carries consequences."

Jeff put his hand on Constantine's shoulder, "Life is not easy. And I can not say how sorry I am because I won't be there for you in the future. But I'm here now. Constantine, always remember, have faith in those you love – whether it be your mother, your friends, or God."

"Thanks, Dad."

Suddenly, two metal rods with green electricity that swirled around them shot up out of the ground, on either side of Jeff's feet. They cut a line, then abruptly disappeared, then reappeared to finish carving a square which caused Jeff to lose his footing and fall below the floor.

Constantine cried out, "Dad!!!"

Skelmar jumped out of the square hole in Jeff's place.

"Miss me, blasphemer?"

Constantine gritted his teeth, "grrrr…!"

He quickly slipped on his mask. Skelmar leapt at the boy, and thrust his claw-like foot into Constantine's chest. Taking a few steps back, Constantine drew his sword. Skelmar struck four times without avail at Constantine's hip, shoulder, knee, and abdomen.

Constantine loosened his grip on his sword, twirled it slightly, so that his hand could realign its grip. Constantine was now holding the handle with the blade pointed downward.

He made a horizontal slash across Skelmar's neck, but the steel fiend tilted his skull so that the sword's tip missed by mere millimeters. Skelmar whipped his right electrosword upward, hitting Constantine's wrist hard that it made him drop his sword.

Constantine took a small step back, rose one forearm in front of him and the other behind him. He gave them a minor twitch so as to activate the Wristers. The one in front of him activated first, followed shortly by the one behind.

Skelmar tried to strike at Constantine's shoulder, but he lifted his forearm swiftly to block it. The electroswords couldn't penetrate the force-fields! Skelmar made to stab him in the arm, but he positioned his Wrister so that the rod skidded off. This sent Skelmar into a flurry of attacks, trying to land a hit and finish this.

Jeff boosted out of the hole, and also slipped on his mask. He signaled Constantine to get out of the way, and sent a mini-missile at the foot of Skelmar. Jeff joined his son's side.

"Friend of yours?"

"Careful, Dad. He slaughtered the Teen Titans."

"The who?"

Constantine rolled his eyes. Skelmar came back down to the ground, looking at the two boys in Jason Hockey Masks. Now things made sense.

Constantine's sword was two far away, so he opted to draw both of his pistols and fired like a madman. Skelmar deflected any of the ten out of fifty blasts that came his way. Jeff was so embarrassed. He lifted his hand to halt Constantine. After the boy complied, Jeff shook his head and drew one pistol.

"Lesson one… aim."

He pulled the trigger and one blast of red light nailed Skelmar right between the eyes. He collapsed to the ground, quickly rose, and rubbed his head begrudgingly.

"You'll pay for that!"

He lunged at the two, and Constantine didn't move. Jeff stopped his split-second leap and, noticing that Constantine wasn't going to act, shoved him out of the way.

Skelmar missed.

Jeff looked at his son, "Lesson two… dodge."

Constantine pulled himself together, he was still in shock from his dad nailing Skelmar with one blast.

Pointing two fingers to his pupils, Jeff did the worst impression of Sean Connery.

"Eyes open, boy. Can't protect you all the time."

Constantine regained focus, and just in time to activate a Wrister to deflect the electrosword that Skelmar threw at him.

Jeff's eyes narrowed and he took off, on his jetpack.

Skelmar charged Constantine, who activated the other Wrister. Skelmar dove at the red leather hooded boy in such a way that he looked like a twisting missile, like a flying drill. On the way to his foe, Skelmar managed to seize the discarded rod. Constantine put his forearms together, so that the wrists were touching – which made a big enough shield to withstand Skelmar's lunge.

As Constantine took a step back, Skelmar's attack slowed down enough where gravity would take its hold again, and Skelmar had to stand on his feet. Constantine deactivated his Wristers, and was about to make his sword return to him when he heard a voice in his head. It was his father.

"Constantine, look out!"

The son deduced the father's plan and jumped out of harm's way of Skelmar's multiple strikes. Landing in a pew, Constantine ducked.

Skelmar heard the sound of propulsion behind him. Turning around, he saw Jeff swoop down and raise his right arm so that it was parallel to ground. Skelmar saw a small spark, a puff of smoke, then a small rocket approach him at a very fast rate…

It hit him squarely in the face.

The force from the explosion incinerated a couple pews, threw back some others, and left a crater in the floor. Smoke fumed and shrouded half of the Chapel. Constantine's head peeked up from behind the pew, "Did it work?"

Jeff's jetpack came to a halt. He stared at the smoke, scratching his head.

"Hmm. Seems like it. Not many people can survive a wrist rocket head on."

Skelmar was simply hiding in the shadows. Big surprise.

Jeff witnessed the metal bug drop right in front of him, land on his hand, and kick Jeff with his feet.

Jeff sailed threw the air and hit the wall in the back of the Chapel. That knocked the wind out of him, and he sunk to the floor. Skelmar approached Jeff, his feet clanking and clinking on the ground.

Constantine ran out of the pew, "Dad!!!!"

Skelmar raised his electroswords, muttering to himself, "I can prevent the blasphemer's existence if I eliminate the being who spawned him!"

Constantine stood in utter shock, but then remembered something he should have thought of before…

The One Shot.

In one swift motion, Constantine pulled out the rifle, cocked it so that it reached its full length capacity, and held it, looking down the shaft pointing toward its target.

Constantine's eyes focused, "Lesson One… aim."

KA-BLAM!!!!

The might from the blast pushed Constantine back like a major gust of wind. He did a couple backwards somersaults.

Jeff's breath returned to him, and he looked up through the steam to see that the torso of the monster had completely vanished. The hipbone and legs remained, and they collapsed to the floor in a heap. The arms that had been raised fell to the ground also.

Constantine and Jeff, both at opposite ends of the Chapel, slowly rose to their feet. Waving their hands across their face, trying to fan away the smoke, they found each other. Jeff looked at the One Shot.

"Hey!" he said joyfully, "My gun! Father Thomas got it to work!"

"Actually, Brother Mark added the blest bullet to it."

"Who?"

"Never mind. You won't meet him."

Jeff noticed Constantine struggle to hold the weapon, "Pretty heavy, huh?"

"Yeah."

Jeff then walked over to the remains of Skelmar.

"Now, who was that guy?"

"I honestly don't know. But he sent me back here."

After hearing Constantine's answer, Jeff widened his eyes and smacked himself in the forehead.

"He sent you here… and you obliterated him. Nice."

Constantine suddenly realized his error.

"Oh crap. Uh… oops?"

"Okay. Don't freak out. Um… How did he send you back?"

"Well, he… uh… thrust his hand at me and I fell threw the floor."

Jeff uttered a sigh of relief, "Whew! Okay, then. It wasn't an eye beam. Good."

Then, picking up one of the fallen claws, he continued, "Maybe I can use this to send you back."

Constantine was suddenly hurt, "Send me back?!"

Jeff removed his mask, "Look, your place is elsewhere. You need to return to your own time."

"But Dad…!? What about you?"

"My place is here."

He turned a small wire on Skelmar's separated wrist. The portal opened.

He looked into his son's eyes, "I'll be fine."

Then, putting a hand on Constantine's shoulder, he added, "Have faith."

Raven sat in a worried state, and was shocked to see the red vortex open close to her.

The light from it was too blinding, and neither Raven nor Jeff could see each other.

Constantine walked through and joined his mother.

As the portal closed, Jeff uttered a small prayer of thanks.

"Yep," he said to himself, watching Constantine step through, "Raven's going to be just fine."


A/N: Disclaimer: Cell © Dragon Ball Z