The Cadmus Web
Chapter 14: Fire and Shadow
Deep in the tunnels that ran under the city something moved along the darkness. It came to an old hole in the wall, it had once been one of the openings for the home of the Nightbreed but since they were no longer around the place had fallen to homeless people or at least it had. They still talked about the night 'It' came to what they called The Den. It had been a horrible sight, something right out of a monster movie and acted just the same.
It scattered those rejected from society like it thought them nothing more than bugs. It attacked with fire and darkness, it showed no mercy, it was like a demon from hell had been let loose upon them. They scattered and no one ever went back. But they still talked about it, and no one ever went close to that area again. They would warn the new ones to the street to stay away from there, but some wouldn't listen. Those that did were rarely seen again, and if they were seen they were scared to death and never talked about what happened.
Now in the Den the monster that was given the name 'Fire and Shadow' after the creature in the Lord of the Rings book, was making plans. The Den was large and well lived in, the perfect place for him to make his plans. For months he had been laying low as he got used to his new form and mind, for it hadn't always been as it was but that was another life time ago and now he was reborn into something new. But there was still the old hatred in his heart, the burning yet cold rage that tormented him day after day. The need for revenge and he had a name for what plagued him, and it was Static.
He hated Static with such intensity that he was sure went beyond anger, beyond rage, it was like it had become his nature to hate Static and he was going to see to it that hero paid in both blood and pain.
But while the creature in the darkness plotted up over the streets four young heroes were heading towards its location. Spider-Man, was swinging between the buildings as usual as he was impressed the other girl called Shebang was keeping up with just jumping over the rooftops. Although he wasn't going as fast as he could, it wasn't easy to keep up with him or the two other boys who were flying. He made a mental note to talk about her at some point as well when he made his report.
He shook his head, it still sounded weird to him when he thought about that. Him making 'a report' like he was giving the results of a business meeting or something. When he became a hero this wasn't even close to what he thought it would be like. But it was also nice to be given this responsibility it made him feel a bit more like he was contributing.
Okay sure he helped with the maintenance and on missions but this was his first real solo job.
They finally landed in an area of the city, it looked fairly normal if a bit on the run down side. "Wow not much to write home about." He said looking around. "But hey I've seen worse in New York, plus at least it's not Jersey."
"Is Jersey really that bad?" Shebang asked him. "I keep hearing all these jokes about it but I've never been there."
"I have." Gears sighed, "Dad took us on a trip once to New York and went through there. Car broke down and we had to spend a couple of days there. Not fun and it was boring, there is nothing there and there are some really strange people."
"Yeah like what?" She asked him.
"I don't know I was kind of young all I remember is some fat guy in a trench coat that never talked and his skinny friend who kept talking but I couldn't understand a thing he said. Plus he kept on using swear words and I kind of picked up a few nasty ones." Gears rubbed the back of his head.
"Oh I remember that," Static snapped his fingers. "You came back and were grounded for a week for saying something at school."
"Really what?" Shebang asked and Gears told her. Her eyes widened at that and Peter had to admit, living in New York and he never heard a phrased used quite like that before.
"Anyways," Peter said shaking his head. "So this is the areas that the last few sittings were found huh?"
"Yeah pretty much, mainly it's been seen in dark places or at night." Gears told him. "It's the reason we think it might be a Nightbreed that didn't change since that's how they lived. But it had to be one that the others didn't know about, like maybe it was a loner or something."
Peter looked around the area, there was still some light and he wondered what they would do now. "So are we waiting for dark or are we going down into tunnels? Just tell me it's not the sewers we'll be checking, man I hate sewers." Peter didn't know why but sometimes he always ended up in them.
He hated it when he had to go into those tunnels, they smelt horrible, cleaning himself and his uniform was a pain in the ass, and then you get things that he would step in or worse cling to his costume that even thinking about them made him shudder in repulsion or nearly gag.
"God I hope not." Shebang muttered to herself she felt the same way about sewers.
"Naw, Gears found the old subway plans for the city." Static told them.
For awhile now Gear had been looking up the older plans for the city and comparing them with the current ones. It took some time since there was a lot of data, but he eventually found a few things that didn't show up on the current maps. In fact he also asked a few of the old Nightbreed about what they could remember and had been compiling anything that would help them in their search.
"I think there are a few places we could look into, the Nightbreed had several areas that they lived in." Gears explained as he called up the info on his visor. "We searched a few so far but there are a few more we can look into, but after that it gets tougher. Some areas had suffered damage over the years so some areas might be closed off or hard to get to."
"Well lead on McDuff." Peter said and noticed the blank looks. "What?" They went on to one of the old subway entrances leaving him behind. "No one appreciates the classics anymore I swear." He muttered under his breath.
-Galatea-
Galatea was finally able to get out of the safe house and took to the skies. She was in her usual white uniform as she looked over the city, she flew to the area that had the most sightings. She closed her eyes for a moment feeling the night air flow over her, this was one of the few pleasures she got out of her life. Flying was always amazing and she loved to fly outside and the night air felt great as it touched her face.
She could lose herself sometimes like this, she could just forget everything and just fly. She sighed as she pulled herself back to reality and the mission. She had a job to do and couldn't take time out to enjoy this, although she wanted to just have a moment to herself.
"Get real Tea, just find this thing and you can maybe take an hour to yourself and enjoy the night before you have to go back." She told herself as she got to the area.
"Now then...Where are you?" She asked out loud as she looked around with her x-ray vision. She looked at the buildings, seeing a few things that she wished she hadn't seen. Some ugly guy that was overweight flexing in a mirror, a few people in the bathroom, and something else that she had to close her eyes.
"God I sometimes hate that power," She said fighting off a gag. 'Okay so he's not in the buildings even though I had to check.'
She looked around the alleyways and noticed something happening, by the looks of it a pair of young teens were being chased by some gang. For a moment Galatea considered leaving them but something inside of her stopped herself from that. She looked at the scene the two were outnumbered and were in trouble. She frowned at this, she had a mission to do but then again wasn't the point of Cadmus to protect people?
What was the point of that if she just stood by and did nothing? Besides it wouldn't take long and she could get back to work after it. With her mind made up she flew quickly over to the alley seeing the two young boys running from a group of slightly older ones with red clothing, obviously their gang colors.
"Run man, run!" One of the boys said to the other one.
"What do you think I'm trying to do!" He yelled back as they heard the voiced of the gang members behind them. "Told you we should have gone the other way, but you just had to go this way, you knew this was Red Blade territory!"
"Just shut up and run!" He yelled back but they ran the wrong way as they headed right into a dead end. The boys who were breathing hard, their lungs burning turned in time to see the five gang members that had been chasing them.
"Come on guys just let us through, we got nothing again you or your crew." One of them said.
"Too bad you made us run then," One of them said stepping forward as he flicked open a butterfly knife. "Cause now we're tired and pissed."
"Heh, let's show'em why we're the Red Blades then, and give every other sucker that walks into our turf knows who is running this show." One of the gang members said.
"Pathetic." Came a woman's voice.
The Gang members heard it behind them and the one at the back as soon as he turned was met with a fist. It hit him so hard not only was he knocked back several feet but blood gushed out of his nose. He hit the ground in pain as he clutched his face, his nose was broken badly and he was moaning in pain as it bleed out.
They now saw a tall very beautiful woman with blue eyes, short blond hair and in a white leotard with a circular hole showing off her cleavage.
"The hell is this? Super Hoe?" One of them said.
That wasn't the best thing for him to say as Galatea got a pissed off look on her face. Within the blink of an eye she was right in front of that Gang member and punched him in the chest. She felt ribs break as he picked forward in a cry of pain. She gripped his neck and pulled him up to her face.
"Care to repeat that?" She said dangerously. She heard a bang and felt something brush against her skin, it took her a second to know that she had been shot. She looked over annoyed at the two others there with gapping mouths and one of them holding a smoking gun.
"I'll deal with you two in a second." She told them coldly.
She looked at the man in her grip noticing that he was turning blue from lack of air. She could just snap the next and be done with it, hell she had killed before after all. It would be so easy, she could feel his neck, the air pipe in the throat. Crushing that would leave him with no way to get air, or just snap his spine, rip the head off or just burn him with her heat vision.
She gripped a bit more tightly and just a bit more and the air pipe would break but she stopped. She felt strange about this, she felt that something wasn't...right about it. She didn't know why she thought that, maybe it was just because it was just some street scum. Maybe that was the reason, he was beneath her, not important enough to kill.
Whatever the reason she threw him into the wall, she heard a bone break from the impact but the man was unconscious from it anyway. She turned to the other two members she noticed one of them was running away, she labelled him the smart one of the group.
Two more shots hit her chest but they just bounced off her harmlessly. She took the gun from them and crushed it. Then she gripped the two men who were cursing her with every word in the English language, she didn't mind that but it was annoying. So she slammed them together a few times and slammed them into the brick wall. The air went out of them, she let them go as they fell hard onto the street groaning in pain.
"Damn girl where the hell did you come from?" One of the boys said looking at the damage she did.
"Hey are you that Supergirl chick?" The other asked earning him a glare from Galatea with her eyes glowing red from holding back her heat vision.
"Don't ever call me that again or what I'll do to you will make you wish you where these punks!" She nearly snarled at them.
"Easy girlfriend! I get it, no saying super babe thing." He said holding his hands up a bit afraid that this blonde woman was going to kick his ass in a serious and very harmful way.
Galatea gave them one last hard look before taking off into the sky leaving the two of them looking as she left them.
"Dude what the hell was that about?" His friend asked once she was well out of sight.
"Don't know man, maybe Supergirl stole her boyfriend or something. You know those hero types must shack up all the time."
"Hell yeah with the babes on that team who wouldn't?" He grinned as they walked out of the alley. "Hell I bet Superman has had half the girls already. Although personally I'd love to do that Wonder Woman, man what I wouldn't give to tap that ass."
"I hear ya, but let's get the hell out of here before more of these guys get here." They agreed to that and ran as fast as they could out of Red Blade territory.
Galatea watched from her spot in the air watching the two young boys run off. She didn't know why but she felt a bit better helping them out. It felt...nice. But she put that away as she went back to work, she decided to try and use her x-ray vision under the ground, maybe she could find out where whatever this was hiding in the day light.
-Underground tunnels-
The tunnels of Dakota were old, some of them dated back over a hundred years or more. Some had been decommissioned for safety reasons, some were just no longer needed and new ones were made. So there was a literal small maze under the city. The place was dark and Gears had lights that he gave to Shebang and Peter, while Static just made a small electrical light himself.
The tunnels had that dusty and the air was a bit heavy and smelt of aging cement. The four heroes were walking through the tunnel that had been and old subway, the metal tracks were still there although they had seen better days. They found this through a hole in the wall of the current tunnel, it had been opened up months ago by the Nightbreed and no one had bothered to fix it up.
Which was good for them since it made it easier getting into the older tunnels.
"Man I'm glad I don't got asthma," Gears coughed from some dust. "This place would kill me."
"I've been in worse although just be thankful the ceiling looks like it will hold up." Peter said pointing above them.
"Yeah last thing we need is for tons of rock to fall on our heads." Static grinned.
"So then any idea how far we from one of the Nightbreed homes?" Shebang asked looking around.
Personally she didn't much care for this place, being underground like this was bringing back all kinds of memories that she didn't like. Being a lab rat and put behind cages and all that left her hating being in places that left her feeling restraint or trapped. She couldn't wait to get out of the tunnels but she didn't want to show how uncomfortable she was in front of the others.
What they didn't know was that the sounds of their approach not only made echoing sounds around them but carried on down the tunnel. The sounds traveled until something moving in the darkness stopped. It listened to someone coming at first he thought it was just more homeless people, so he went to get rid of them. This was his territory and no one else's, but as he got closer he could hear the sounds a bit more clearly. They were distorted but after they got closer he suddenly realized he knew one of them, and he could never forget that voice either. It was the voice of the bane of his existence.
It was Static, he was here in the tunnels. A part of him was eager for a fight wanting to rush out and slaughter him but the more reasonable side of him thought that a trap was more appropriate. He saw a hole that opened up in the ceiling, part of it had withered away from a water leak at one point years ago by the looks of it.
He formed himself into the small hole as the glow around him dimmed. He couldn't keep the light down for long, it was like holding your breath he could only do it for so long. He also wanted to have built up his crew again but he had been having trouble with that. At any rate Static was walking to his own death at the moment and he would finally get his revenge.
The others were nearing the hideout not aware of the danger, Peter was thinking on what to do if they found whoever this was. There was a cure so if whoever was hiding from the world could easily be turned normal again, but then there was the other side what if they didn't want to be cured? He was in the middle of telling himself to stay positive when his spider sense flared up.
"Everyone out of the way!" He yelled and jumped the others didn't know of his warning sense and froze for a second before a large dark shape came from the ceiling. For a moment Peter got a sense of déjà vu, remembering Venom. The dark liquid grew tentacles and slammed into the other three heroes, then it seemed to get very bright as it lit on fire.
The creature was all black with red like veins, burning eyes in a mouth with thin sharp teeth, the mouth itself looked to open up into an inferno, plus there were bits of fire on it, a long fire trail seemed to make an almost 'living' hair style.
"Oh crap we landed in a Lord of the Rings movie," Peter said looking at the thing, "Where's Gandalf when you need him?"
"Hey man what's your problem other than a serious case of the ugly." Static said firing an electrical attack at him, the creature just made a hole in its body letting the attack fly through him harmlessly.
"I ain't fallin' for that again fool." He spoke almost like there were two voices overlapping one dark and the other kind of cocky.
"Dude is it me of does that thing sounds kind of familiar?" Gears said readying a zap cap.
"Who cares let's just kick its butt and we can ask it later." Shebang dodged a black and red fire ball as it was launched at her.
Static saw that move and something was clicking in his head. "Do I know you or something?"
"You got that right geek," He said to him looking at him. "But I guess you wouldn't know me from the new look 'Hero'."
It was how he said the word 'hero' that made Static and Gears eyes opened up wide.
"No way!" Gears said looking at it all. "Ebon?!"
"Not just Ebon fool." He said launching another fire tentacle at him as he dodged. Peter managed to snag him out of the way.
"Hot streak." Static said out loud. "It can't be, I mean what the hell happened?"
"Not sure but I'm no longer Ebon or Hot Streak, on that day at the ship something happened to us. We merged into one being. So you can call me Shadowfire." The merged villain said to them all.
Next up Chapter 15: Party Crasher