Ch. 14 Grey Area
Redemption
Monokrome stood paralyzed on the rooftop overlooking Centennial Park, watching helplessly as the enraged Archangel of Justice advanced on one of the men that had murdered her best friend. He wanted so hard to believe that she wouldn't let her hatred get the better of her, but even from this distance, the pain and rage in Sachel's eyes was all too apparent.
Down in the park, Sachel's arm began to shake. Every impulse in Sachel's body screamed for her to slit the demon's neck where he stood. Every neuron in her brain pushed for her to bring the blade down on Beelzebub's throat.
Beelzebub grinned, "What are you waiting for, Archangel? Do it."
Sachel's arm shook, and Beelzebub's face soured. "DO IT!" he shouted.
Sachel raised her blade into the air, ready to send it down and ending the villain's life. She was about to bring her arm down when there was a flash before her eyes. Thousands of people cried out in pain and agony around her as they burned alive. The faces of Lexicon, Richard, and Gabriel surrounded her. They said nothing, but the look of sadness and disappointment that was etched on each of their faces was worse than any anger or harsh words.
Sachel felt the weight of the katar in her hand, and then she looked at the villain before her. Then she saw Lexicon's burnt and broken body in the remains of the warehouse. She saw Monokrome, helpless and paralyzed as he stood enthralled in Vendettuh's trap, and she saw the countless other lives these villains would ruin should they live.
Beelzebub watched Sachel struggle with herself. He tried to determine exactly what was going on deep within her mind, but it was hidden behind the inferno of raw power as it circulated through her body, and her expression remained cold and emotionless.
Sachel looked deep into Beelzebub's eyes. He looked back at her with a feigned bravery and cockiness, but beneath it all she saw nothing but fear, and in that instant, all doubts left her mind. She gripped the katar hard and brought it down onto the villain.
No! Monokrome's mind screamed, unable to speak.
Beelzebub closed his eyes and waited for the blade to slash his neck and end his life, condemning the Archangel to her inner darkness forever. He waited, but it never came.
The Fire Demon opened his eyes, and Sachel stood in front of him, arms at her side, and unarmed. He looked to down and saw her tri-bladed katars embedded in the ground on either side of him. He looked back at Sachel, anger building inside him.
Sachel said nothing. She only stared back into the killer's eyes, and snapped her fingers. Chains made from pure light sprung from the weapons, binding the villain on the spot. He struggled against the chains, focusing his power against them, but to no avail.
Sachel stood above him, anger radiating from her body.
"Just who do you think I am?" she said, venom dripping from her words. "I have lived with what I did that night for five thousand years. Do you think anything you can do to me will make me forget it all? Lexicon was my friend, and I loved her very much. There's nothing I would like more than to see you suffer for what you did to her. But if I take your life now, if I make myself like you because of her…"
Sachel bowed her head, "…she'd never forgive me for it."
Beelzebub sighed. "So disappointing," he said.
Beelzebub raised his head and shouted "LANCE!"
A beam of cold energy struck Sachel directly in the chest. It didn't harm her, but it knocked her off her feet as a villain in a brown trench coat step out from the darkness. An orange and blue blur sped past Beelzebub, and half a second later a tiger skinned woman in a blue, black, and yellow unitard appeared, katars in one hand, her battle axe in the other.
With the source of their power removed, the chains binding Beelzebub disappeared. He stood up, massaging his wrists.
"May I introduce you to Sgt. Lance?" Beelzebub motioned towards the villain in the trench coat, "And of course you remember Savage Beauty," the tigress woman grinned, revealing sharp teeth.
"You were supposed to kill me, Archangel," Beelzebub sighed. "How am I supposed to gain satisfaction from bringing the end of a pure angel?"
Sachel struggled to her feet. She heard a thump behind her, and she saw Vendettuh dumping Monokrome at her side before joining his cohorts, holding Monokrome's sword in his hand. Sachel rushed to Richard's side, and was relieved to see him beginning to gain movement in his body.
Beelzebub shook his head, "I suppose, in the end, it doesn't matter."
The Fire Demon pulled out a small knife from his belt and before Sachel could react, he rushed the Angel, slicing open her arm. Sachel cried out in pain as she grasped the wound. Savage Beauty giggled as Beelzebub returned to the group, Sachel's blood dripping from the blade.
"Your contribution is much appreciated, Archangel."
Beelzebub began to walk backwards, away from the group of villains. Sachel saw his foot brush a certain patch in the grass, and a circle of light began to spread across a pattern in the ground, like fire spreading through a line of oil. The visage of an inverted pentagram formed in the grass, Beelzebub standing in the middle.
In a split second, a penny dropped in Sachel's mind, and terror filled her heart. The pentagram. The blood of an Angel. These were the ingredients to a spell used to summon a demon from Hell. He planned this all along, and I walked right into it. She rushed to stop him, but was blasted back by a combined assault from Lance and Savage Beauty. Cackling like a madman, Beelzebub stabbed the ground with the dagger, causing all Hell to break loose.
A column of dark energy erupted from the circle. Beelzebub was thrown to the side from the force, and looked back with mad glee as the silhouette of a creature with large, bat-like wings rose from the eruption.
"Rise, my master, come to this world and take what is rightfully yours!"
The energy subsided, and when it was gone, a man with shoulder length black hair and large demonic wings sprouted from his shoulders crouched in the center of the charred patch of earth where the pentagram had been. Savage Beauty and Sgt. Lance grabbed Sachel's shoulders and brought her into the circle and at the man's feet, Sachel too afraid to resist. His body was covered in black, demonic armor. He stood up, his six foot four frame rising to full height, and when Sachel saw his face, she went absolutely numb with disbelief and fear.
The man looked down at her with a large smile.
"It's good to see you again, Sachel."
When Sachel spoke, her voice was weak and quivering.
"Nathan."
Monokrome struggled to move behind the gathering of villains. He saw the display that summoned the demon before him, and was left in disbelief when he heard Sachel say his name. Struggling to lift his arm, Monokrome managed to press a button on his gauntlet, activating a secure communication link.
"Monokrome to the Watchtower, we have priority one emergency…"
Nathan stood at the center of the circle of villains. His red eyes looked down in glee as he saw Sachel's wide with fear.
"Now there's a face I've been waiting to see for five thousand years," Nathan smiled, "and when you're waiting in Hell, well, let's just say I've been waiting far longer than you have."
Sachel managed to find her voice. "What do you want, Nathan?"
"To hurt you, Sachel, what else? You killed me in cold blood. You don't expect me to forgive that, do you? Sure, in time I couldn't help but feel proud of you for going so far to get me, but you still sent me down into that pit." Nathan's voice began to drip with malice, and he bent down to Sachel's eye level, "Fortunately, I've had lots of time to think about just how to hurt you back."
Straightening up, Nathan addressed those around him as well as the Angel, "But first, we need a sacrifice."
Beelzebub turned his head to Monokrome, "Should I bring you the hero?"
"No, no, he's far too…good for what I need," Nathan turned his head to Beelzebub, "You'll do."
A smoky tentacle of darkness sprung from the ground and wrapped itself around Beelzebub's neck. The Fire Demon's eyes widened with shock and betrayal as he struggled to get free, but he could not break the dark vine's hold on him. Dark energy flowed from Beelzebub into the vine, and from the vine, into Nathan. Beelzebub began to scream in pain. His body began to shrivel, and with one last cry dying in the Demon's throat, the tentacle released its hold on Beelzebub, his body crashing onto the ground in a pile of dust and armor.
The remaining villains cried out in shock and horror as Nathan turned his gaze towards them and more tentacles sprung from the ground in front of them. Sgt. Lance and Savage Beauty were caught completely by surprise, still stunned from Beelzebub's sudden death, and were caught almost immediately. Vendettuh was an assassin, however, and survived by quickly adapting to situations. The moment the tentacle appeared in front of him, he quickly utilized Monokrome's sword to slice through it. He wasn't sure if it would have any effect, but he had to try something. Fortunately for him, the sword had been enhanced by members of the Magic Wing of the Watchtower as to augment Monokrome's mental abilities, and it managed to slice the end off of the tentacle. More tentacles sprang from the ground around the hitman and he swung the sword all around him, dispatching each with haste.
Unfortunately, his defense was in vain. A lone tentacle sprung behind him and wrapped around his neck, lifting him off the ground. He screamed in frustration as he felt his darkness being drained from his body.
"Poor little assassin," Nathan smiled. "You really should get a handle on your curiosity. It'll get you in trouble."
Monokrome watched in horror as Victor Hashan slowly stopped struggling, until finally his body crumbled to dust and his remains fell to the ground.
Sachel watched wide-eyed as the darkness gathered in Nathan, causing his eyes to go stark black and his skin to turn grey. He looked at Sachel with demented glee. Nathan knew it was usually a mistake to spell out his plan to the young hero, but he had waited for this moment for five thousand years, and the entire idea was to cause her pain. What was the point if he couldn't gloat?
"You love this city, do you not?"
Sachel said nothing, fearing her words would betray her, but her eyes said it all.
Nathan continued, "An eye for an eye, was that not the only saying? You destroyed two cities trying to kill me." Nathan looked around at Metropolis, "This is only one city, but no matter, there's far more people here to kill. The darkness harvested from these villains will be used to render this city to a pile of slag!"
Sachel's eyes flared, but she said nothing.
"What's wrong, Sachel? Nothing? No clever quip? No snappy remark? Are you going to do nothing?"
Sachel smiled, "Perhaps this."
She quickly ducked out of the way as a trio of telekinetic blades rushed from behind her. While Nathan was busy with his monologue, Monokrome was busy fighting off the remaining effects of Vendettuh's venom. Once he was sure he could fight again, he telekinetically gave Sachel the signal to move, and sent the blades straight at the resurrected Demon. All three struck Nathan straight in the chest as Sachel dove to retrieve her katars from Savage Beauty's pile of dust.
Nathan recovered quickly. While the blades hurt, they did little damage.
"Flea," he growled, staring daggers at the Grey Warrior. A large amount of dark shadows shot from Nathan's feet towards Monokrome, and each shadow manifested into a skeletal wolf, resulting in a hundred demonic beasts charging at the hero. Sachel flapped her wings and leaped at Nathan, who summoned a large broadsword to counter Sachel's katars.
Nathan smiled. He had been waiting a long time for this moment.
Monokrome scooped his sword off the ground and peppered the beasts with mental blasts of force. A few beasts fell and dissolved into black smoke, but the majority maintained their stampede. Monokrome readied his blade, ready to go down fighting.
Before the beasts had managed to reach him, however, a large flash of light filled the sky, and a maelstrom of lightning blazed across the field, destroying a small number of beasts and cutting off their charge. Monokrome looked up to the sky and smiled. The cavalry had arrived.
A magical portal had opened in the sky, and out of the portal came Doctor Fate, Raven, Zatanna, Donna Troy, Captain Marvel, and Specter Levitas. Lightning cackled around the hands of the last two as they prepared another electrical assault.
The beasts roared in frustration as the newly arrived heroes gathered at Monokrome's side. Monokrome looked over to Levitas. No words were exchanged, but the look in Monokrome's eyes was all that was needed. Sachel was safe. She was truly an Angel once more. Levitas nodded, and Monokrome sounded the charge.
The heroes charged at Nathan's army of hell hounds, and the beasts charged at the heroes. The two sides clashed with a mighty force. Monokrome sent his blade bashing into one creature's skull while Levitas grabbed one by its neck and sent a thousand volts surging through the creature's frame, frying it. Raven sent blast after blast into the crowd, while Donna Troy crushed one under her hand. The fight was on.
Away from the battle, Sachel and Nathan traded blow after blow. Sachel attempted to strike and slash at Nathan from multiple angles, only for Nathan to parry them with his broadsword. Nathan in turn attempted to stab and cleave at Sachel with intense ferocity, only for Sachel to dodge and weave around the blade.
Nathan heaved his enormous wings and lifted into the air. Sachel followed suit, sending multiple light blasts from her weapons. Two blasts clipped Nathan's wings, sending him spinning through the air. Nathan snarled as he twirled to face his former partner. He pointed the tip of his sword at the ascending angel, unleashing a beam of dark energy at the recently reinstated Archangel. Sachel clapped her katars together, a beam of light being unleashed form the tip of their blades. In a million-to-one chance, the two beams met in the middle, cancelling each other out as each side battled for dominance. Sachel looked into the ex-Holy Demon's face and saw his grey skin beginning to crack. Her eyes widened in surprise. The distraction was enough for Nathan's beam to blast through Sachel's, blasting her straight in the chest and sending her falling to earth.
On the ground, Monokrome and his allies sliced through the hell hound forces. Beasts stopped as golden ankhs appeared on their foreheads before they burst into golden flames as Doctor Fate hovered above them. Elsewhere, Zatanna raised her wand and shouted an incantation.
"Yb lliw dna evol, emoceb a evod!" she shouted, and a group of beasts transformed into a single white dove, which flew into her hat.
Monokrome was concerned. Nathan had summoned many of these demons, but at the rate that they were cutting them down their forces should have thinned considerably by now. Despite their assault, the beasts kept coming at them strong as ever. Monokrome fought his way towards Levitas, who was busy frying demons one after the other. They stood back to back, Monokrome sending waves of mental force through the army as Gabriel sent arcs of lightning through a string of enemies.
Monokrome shouted over the rage of battle, "They just keep coming!"
"Nathan must have set up a revitalizer somewhere!" Levitas shouted. He erected a lightning barrier around the two.
"When a demon or angel dies on Earth, their dark or light essence is released in an explosive manner," the Archangel explained, "While stronger beings such as myself or Sachel could eventually revitalize ourselves, beings weak as these will simply dissipate. Nathan must have a magical node that collects the hounds' energy and revitalizes them before it has a chance to disperse, allowing them to come at us again."
Monokrome nodded, "If we find this node, can we destroy it?"
"Let's start with finding it first," Levitas said. He turned and blasted a beast that managed to break through the barrier. Monokrome sent a wave of mental energy at an oncoming hound slicing it in half. He turned to Levitas and said, "If Nathan created it, it would be constructed from dark magic, right?"
Levitas nodded, dispatching another group of hounds. He stepped back as Donna Troy flew past gripping the neck of another beast. She landed a few yards away before beating it into dust.
Monokrome sought out Raven, who was floating above the battle not far from Doctor Fate, sending magical blasts into the demons. He called her down, erecting a mental barrier around the two.
"Levitas tells me there's a node of dark magic reviving the beasts as we destroy them," he said, "We need to find it so we can destroy it."
Raven nodded and sat cross-legged in midair in meditation. After a few seconds, she pointed and said "Seven meters in that direction."
Monokrome looked in the direction Raven was pointing, and realized the place she was referring to was the same spot Nathan was standing in when he summoned the demons in the first place.
I didn't think of that…why? He thanked Raven before going to find Levitas. Cutting through a set of hounds, he found the Archangel. Quickly, he explained to Gabriel what Raven had told him concerning where the node was.
"Can we destroy it?" Monokrome asked.
"I think so," Levitas replied. He summoned a nimbus of lightning around his hand, "A focused beam of light power should be able to destroy it, but I'm going to need a focal point, like some kind of magically-enhanced lightning rod."
Richard pulled out his sword, "Will this do?"
Levitas examined the sword and nodded, "That is exactly what we need."
The Archangel grabbed Monokrome and they lifted off, flying above the small horde of hell beasts as they made their way towards the revitalizer node. A few beasts tried to leap at them, but Levitas's lightning blasts and Monokrome's mental waves made short work of them. From a birds-eye point of view, it was easy to find the node now that they were looking for it. It was a dark circle where Nathan had been standing some time before with one hell hound leaping out after the other as a few meters away, the magical members of the Justice League decimated them over and over again.
Once they got directly over the node, Monokrome leaped from Levitas's arms, hurling his blade at the node. His own accuracy combined with a little help from his telekinesis resulted in the sword sticking into the ground in the direct center of the circle. Once Levitas was no longer supporting Monokrome, Gabriel summoned a large amount of his lightning powers in his fists. He unleashed the nova blast of lightning at the hilt of the sword. The sword caught it all and focused it into a single point in the center of the node. Golden cracks spread across the black pit, and within seconds, the revitalizer exploded, killing any beast within a five foot radius of the pit.
Monokrome and Levitas landed side-by-side where the magical node just was. Monokrome casually pulled his sword from the ground, wiping the dirt from the tip.
"Now then," he said, "Let's try this again"
Sachel spread her wings as far as they went and flapped, stopping her descent. She looked around for Nathan, and saw him charging at her from the side, sword in slash position. Sachel quickly raised her katars in anticipation of Nathan's attack, and he hit her hard. They both flew through the air and crashed into the nearby Superman Statue, Sachel trapped against the golden shrine by Nathan's blade. Nathan reared his arm back, trying to crush Sachel's head against the statue. Sachel moved her head in the last minute, causing his fist to crash into the statue's arm, causing a large dent in the metal being where Sachel's head had been a second earlier.
Sachel closed her eyes and reopened them again, releasing a bright sun flare. Nathan yelled as he shielded his eyes. Sachel took the opportunity to bring her legs up to her chest and kick the demon away from her. Nathan soared through the air, Sachel got off the arm of the statue. Nathan recovered enough to hurl his sword at Sachel. The Archangel dodged the projectile and it embedded itself into the arm of the statue. While all the sword did was collapse the metal arm completely, sticking out the other side, the structure was weakened sufficiently, causing the arm to collapse. Pieces rained down to the base of the statue, the section with the blade sticking out the side lay pointing the battle below.
Sachel looked back at the Demon before her, and once again noticed his skin cracking in various places.
"You're degrading," she said. Nathan smiled.
"Glad you noticed," he said. "The four villains combined had a large amount of darkness in their hearts. Once I mixed it with my own, personal corruption, well, it became too much for my body to bear."
Nathan spread his arms, indicating his body, "Soon, this body will yield to the power within me, and I shall die. When that happens, the corrupted atomic bomb I will become will tear through this city, killing everybody within a twenty-mile radius."
Nathan smiled at Sachel's disturbed expression, "Sure, you'll survive, as will a handful of the more powerful metahumans in this city, but a great deal of your friends…" he motioned towards the heroes fighting below, "…will be obliterated. Once I reform, I'll find a new city, with more sinners. I will absorb their darkness, and the whole thing will start all over again until you find a way to send me back to Hell. I only tell you this now…because it is already too late for you to stop me."
Sachel could see that Nathan was right. His body, as it was, was beyond repair, and once it gave in, the resulting explosion would destroy everyone around them. Sachel lunged at the Demon in anger, but the demon flew above her assault and rocketed downwards, driving her towards the ground. She crash landed face first into the dirt, and Nathan landed on her back, sending a wave of pain through Sachel's spine. He grabbed her hair and pulled her face up. She was facing the Justice League's battle with the remainder of Nathan's army, the creatures' numbers quickly wearing thin. Soon, they would be victorious, but Sachel knew it didn't matter. Nothing she could do could save them from Nathan's destruction. No matter how hard she tried, she could see no way to save them from desolation of Nathan's darkness.
A penny dropped in Sachel's brain.
His darkness.
Sachel clapped her katars together, a beam of light being unleashed form the tip of their blades. In a million-to-one chance, the two beams met in the middle, cancelling each other out as each side battled for dominance.
In order to save those around them, Nathan's darkness would have to be met with a generally similar amount of light. Such light that would be caused by the death of someone made of pure light, someone like…
Someone like me.
Sachel raised her head as she looked across the park and saw Monokrome battling the last of the hell hounds. He looked so brave, so strong, and was someone Sachel had grown to care for, even to love.
Sachel closed her eyes to suppress a tear. She raised her large wings and let out a defiant yell as she brought them down hard. The sudden shift caused Nathan to lose his footing and fall on top of Sachel. The Archangel caught him by the neck to keep him in place on her back. Back on her feet, Sachel used her powerful legs and wings to propel both her and Nathan back towards the remains of the Superman statue…
…and onto the blade of Nathan's protruding broadsword.
Monokrome had finally dispatched the last of Nathan's beast, and he looked back to where Sachel and Nathan were fighting. What he saw made his heart stop dead.
Sachel felt the impact before she heard it. She looked down and saw a blood-soaked blade protruding from her stomach. She felt no pain. There would be no suffering for this Angel in her final moments.
She felt Nathan twitching behind her. She could only imagine the look of shock and disbelief on his face.
"W-what are you doing?" he said, his voice raspy and weak. Sachel said nothing. Crack lines had begun to form over her skin, and glimmers of light began to shine through, just as darkness had begun to leak out of Nathan's. A small spark of light her connected with a small clod of his darkness, and when they fizzled out, Nathan understood. And with understanding, came absolute terror.
"NO!" he quietly yelled. He tried to get off of his blade, but Sachel held him in place. "Don't you understand what you're doing? You'll kill us both!"
"If that's what it takes." She said quietly. His further cries of terror were lost upon the Archangel of Justice. Her eyes sought out the group of stunned heroes that looked upon the dying angel, hoping to single out one in particular. She found Monokrome, who was so shocked his sword dropped out of his hand. She looked at him with sorrowful eyes.
She closed her eyes, blocking the tears as best she could. When she opened her eyes, she looked into Monokrome's and said the only thing left to say.
She tried to say it. She really did, but before she could, the words were caught in her throat, and with a final breath, Sachel, Angel of Tech and Archangel of Justice, was no more.
Monokrome tried to run for Sachel as her head dropped, but Levitas grabbed him and turned him around.
"Everyone shield your eyes!" the angel shouted the Archangel, and everyone did just in time. Behind the heroes, an enormous explosion of wind went off. There was no fire, no true damage, no light, just a huge burst of force as to great opposite powers collided and yielded to the other.
The noise from the wind was deafening, no one could hear themselves shout. Pieces of small debris flew past as the wind whipped at their bodies.
After a long agonizing moment, it finally stopped. Monokrome broke free of Levitas's grip, but when he turned around, he fell to his knees. The blast had done little to no damage to the surrounding area, but Sachel was gone, Nathan along with her. Monokrome fell onto his hands, tears forming in his eyes. Gabriel crouched at Richard's side and placed his hand on the mourning hero's shoulder, the glow on his face hiding the angel's own tears. Monokrome could not believe what he had just seen. He refused to believe it. First Lexicon, now Sachel? Monokrome pounded the ground in anger and remorse.
Light had broken over the horizon when the rest of the League came to the scene. It was over. The threat was gone, the fight had ended. But for Monokrome, the cost for peace was far too great.