ACS 38
Hey, guys! Now, yes, what I did may have been a little cliche, but, hey, it's my story. Ya'll have no idea how much I've missed writing for Chris. I'm surprised that ya'll haven't blown up the comments section, though. But, I will say, MTE OMG, while your theory was very precise and thought out, there are some things wrong with it. One, Chris isn't evil, so it ain't a Anakin/Darth Vader scenario, but, hey, it was a good theory. Also, I'm surprised that no one has said anything about any ships. Let me know who'd you'd like to see get together. Also, to any readers who are good drawers, some fanart would be nice. Now, comments:
The one true: think what you want about that topic. Though, I have to say, I think this is either the first or second review on a fan-pairing for this story I've seen.
Assassins 45: interesting quote, but, as I stated above, his (or her) theory isn't entirely correct.
DJ Bsl: No, I'm not dead. No need to worry.
Oh, one last thing. I apologize about the wait, but it took me a long time to write this, since I got grounded for not reporting a car wreck (long story) and then my school blocked Fanfiction, and I usually update the story at School, so, yeah, there were complications.
Anyway, I'll stop babbling now. On with the show!
The room was silent as the assassins stared at Chris. Scarlet struggled to find words, countless emotions stirring inside her.
"C-Chris?" She asked, stammering.
The assassin who she once knew had changed since she'd last seen him. His eyes were now contradicting one another, the left white with an icy blue pupil, the other black with a blood red pupil. On the back of his neck was a tattoo of the words Anarchy is King. On his wrist and hands, seeming connecting his lichtenberg figure scars like a spider web was an assortment of red and black wolf claw mark tattoos. His hair was now a darker shade of blond, with the exception of the front of the hair covering his forehead, which was pure black. His teeth were now sharp. The most noticeable thing she noticed, was the fact that he didn't seem to care that he should've been dead, his body language screaming I don't give a fuck about death, and i don't care what you think about it. So death can go fuck itself and it's sister. (Not death the assassin, the actual death, as in the angel.)
Note: Yes, i know the Angel of Death doesn't have a sister. At least, I don't think so. Can Angels have sisters? Whatever, just roll with it. Moving on.
Chris looked around the room, locking eyes with everyone, seemingly reading each of them like they were an open book, his expression changing from pride to disgust to any emotion you could think of. He finally looked back of Scarlet, eyes narrowed slightly, a smirk on his face.
"It's good to be back. I see you haven't even tried to kill the old man yet, huh? Pity." He shook his head. "I thought I taught you to recognize threats on sight. Guess I didn't."
"This-i-you-this is a joke, right?" Scarlet asked. She looked at Marc and Sam. "Is this a sick joke?"
"Yeah… It's a joke. Because even I would joke about this matter." Marc replied sarcastically. "Actually, you're right, I would joke about this." His hands were in his pockets, and Scarlet knew him well enough to know Marc was probably smirking. Sam had finally stopped chanting about the Greek gods like an ancient Greek occult leader, and was staring at Scarlet like she would be his next test subject.
"But-he's-no-Chris is supposed to be dead!"
"Do I look dead to you, Scarlet?" Chris asked, his smirk now gone. "My world has never followed the rules, and neither has the world of the divine beings. It took death for me to figure this out, but when I broke down my reality until it was at it's most basic form, I realized something: The first host of Jack, meaning my ancestor, and I aren't so different. We started out the same, ambitious, loyal, deadly. We rose through the ranks until we were the best. But, of course, there was always that one thing-one teensy-weensy little crack-and we realized that we were meant for something else. For him, it meant losing sanity and becoming one of, if not the, most famous serial killer of all time. For me, it meant death and resurrection. Jack simply gave me a second chance, but of course I had to make some changes, some physical, some mental."
"Enough changes to attack your friends?" Scarlet said. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. This couldn't have been Chris. Chris actually had some sense of morality.
"They got in the way." Chris said. He shrugged. "Besides, attacking them is a bit of a stretch."
"What would you call it?!" Virgilia asked, subconsciously feeling the chain marks on her arms.
"Issuing a restraining order is the way I would describe it, but, hey, whatever floats your boat." Chris said, pulling out a cigar and lighting it before taking in a puff.
Scarlet looked at Sam, anger boiling up and appearing on her face. "And why didn't you tell me when you called, Sam?"
"I tried to. But Jack stopped me. He treated me like Minos did. Minos, Minos, Minos, Crete, Slavery, Icarus!" Sam said, before he started bawling like a maniac, curling into a ball, and rocking back and forth.
Scarlet looked at Chris expectantly.
Chris sighed. "The idiot tried to go back in time to stop my death, accidentally ended up in Ancient Greece and got stuck there for a few years, then basically started the 'myth' of Daedalus, including the part about having a kid, going nuts in the process. I told him that time travel wouldn't be a good idea, but, of course, he went ahead and did it anyway. So, yeah, the dumbass is now somewhere around 25 years old, and he became an adoptive family member, whom is a complete pain in my ass. Seriously, he's even worse than he was before, and that's saying something."
"Chris, stand down." Death said, his voice deadly calm.
"Yeah, that ain't happening." Chris said. He smirked. "Trust me, I would love to have a chat with you about upcoming events, but, of course, my priorities are not on point."
"Meaning?" Death asked.
"Remember Frankenstein's origin story?" Chris asked, as he crushed the cigar. Lightning sparked around his wrist, as a 5-foot long spear, glowing red and black, appeared in his hands.
"Did you know he could do that?" Carter asked Scarlet.
'I knew." She said. "I just forgot."
An electric spear suddenly hit Carter, sending the monster flying into the wall. Scarlet whirled to face Chris.
"Did you forget what I taught you, Scarlet? Never take your eyes of your opponent."
Scarlet looked around, trying to think of a way to distract Chris from killing Carter. Suddenly, she had an idea.
"Those electrical gauntlets. Sam made those for you, right?"
Chris arched an eyebrow as Sam perked up at hearing his own name. "Yeah. Why is that important?"
"And Sam went back in time and accidently became Daedalus, right?"
"Where are you going with this?" Chris asked, starting to lose patience.
"So if Daedalus made you electrical-based weapons…"
"No." Chris said, his eyes widening.
"...doesn't that make you…"
"Scarlet, if you finish that sentence, you will not like the outcome."
"...Zeus?"
"God fucking dammit." Chris said.
"ZEUS!" Sam screamed. He pushed a bunch of random buttons on his wrist gauntlet, which looked a lot like Syndrome's from The Incredibles. A blue beam surrounded Chris, and he was thrown into the air, through the roof, and up into the sky.
"Good choice for distraction." Robert said.
"Personally, I like Athena." Plague replied.
Sam's head turned 180 Degrees, like an owl . "ATHENA!"
"Oh, fuck. Wait, that's not-"
Before Marc could finish the sentence, Chris fell back through the roof and landed on Marc.
"Why do they always have to land on me?" Marc grumbled.
Chris, ignoring the disgruntled horseman, sat up and glared at the inventor.
"Hey, Sam?"
Sam looked at Chris.
"SHINY!"
Sam dived down at a penny, also somehow dodging Chris's lighting, but unintentionally landing right in front of the now very pissed off teenager. Without a word, Chris grabbed the inventor by the collar and threw him straight up, through the floor and about 20 feet of dirt, out of the building, into the sky.
"SAY HI TO ICARUS FOR ME, YOU INVENTIVE BASTARD!" Chris yelled after him. He then took a deep breath and turned to the Assassins, a smirk once again on his face.
"Sorry about that. Now, as I was saying, I-"
Chris was cut short when Sam swooped back in and proceeded to kick him in the back of the head before turning back towards the hole in the ceiling, laughing.
"YOU CAN'T CATCH ME, HAHAHAHAH-"
Chris grabbed Sam's ankle and looked at the inventor.
Sam looked at Chris's hand then looked back at Chris.
"Uh-oh."
Chris then proceeded to reenact the scene from The Avengers where Hulk throws Loki around like a toy.
Figured it'd be nice to give ya'll a little comedy. Okay, moving on.
Chris stood above Sam, breathing heavily. He looked down, his shirt now sliced up beyond repair.
"This was my favorite shirt, too. Oh well." Chris said as he tore what remained of the shirt off and threw it aside. Scarlet couldn't help but look at the mark where the blade had stabbed through. It looked like it had almost healed completely, the only sign being a faint white line.
Despite the circumstances, Scarlet felt her cheeks heat up, as did some of the other girls. Dammit, focus.
"Chris, look, we don't have to fight. Why don't we all just calm down, and-"
Veronica's sentence was cut short when two electric red whips appeared from his wrist and began buzzing with electricity.
"That's where you guys are wrong. Right now…" Chris grinned,a crazy glint in his eyes. "...I feel like having a family reunion."
Marc smirked under his respirator and looked at Robert. "That's our cue. I'll get the birdbrain."
Scarlet looked at the two. "Where do you think you guys are going?"
"Well, considering the fact that our job here is done, we're leavin'. Chris can handle all of you guys just fine. Now, I'd be more worried about the poor guy who Chris is about to beat the shit out of. Honestly, fuck respect for the elderly, some of them don't deserve it." As soon as he finished saying that, the two horsemen dragged the unconscious inventor into the garage, where Marc's Humvee was waiting for them.
"You brought your van?" Casper asked, speaking up for the first time.
Marc stopped where he was, turned to Casper, dropping Sam in the process.
"It's not a van, It's a Humvee!" He shouted.
"What's the difference?" Casper shouted back.
"A van is a windowless vehicle pedophiles use to rape kids. My humvee has a 9mm minigun that can spin at 900 rotations per minute, can fly, and can drive on water. Now tell me, have you ever heard the sound of fifty 9mm rounds hitting the body of a human?" Plague sarcastically asked with a smile, of course invisible behind his respirator.
"What's that got to do with-"
"WOULD YOU LIKE TO?" He asked, swinging the weapon to aim directly at Casper.
When Casper didn't respond, Marc smirked and Got into the vehicle. He then drove away, flipping off Carter through the window.
Meanwhile, Chris lept into the air and swung the razor whips at Carter, who was just managing to get back to his feet. The whips wrapped around the monster's wrist, causing them to start bleeding heavily. Carter grunted, but he managed to grab hold of them and threw the assassin at the wall.
Chris, however, hit the wall feet first then launched himself back at Carter, the whips changing into a kukri knife. He slashed the knife at Carter's neck, but Carter dodged and kicked the teen in the gut, sending him back a few feet.
Chris laughed, as he straightened up , and the kukri disappeared. "Nice to know you haven't lost your edge, old man. This'll be fun."
"What do you mean?" Carter asked, as he slowly unsheathed his machete.
"Let's just say i'm not the only one you'll be fighting when the time comes. In case it wasn't obvious, I wasn't really trying that hard. Call it whatever you want. But when the time comes, make no mistake, there will be no holding back."
Chris then looked at the assassins. "As for the rest of you, I don't want to hurt any of you, but I will if I have to. Stay out of the way, and don't follow me. All your questions will be answered in time. You've waited a full year. You can wait a bit longer."
Before anyone could respond, Chris made a revving motion with his hands, While Carter simultaneously surged forward, machete in hand. Suddenly, Chris's motorcycle raced into the room, ramming into Carter, making the giant fall to the floor, grunting in surprise. Chris had installed remote control on that thing too, apparently, though Scarlet couldn't help but wonder when he'd done that. He got on, revved the engine, and drove away, without a helmet, through the garage, up to the surface. Scarlet could've sworn she heard him say, "God, I missed this bike." Of course, then everyone heard him screaming like a cowboy at the rodeo. There was a reason Chris called that bike "war horse."
The room was silent for a moment. Nightwing broke the silence by saying, " What the fuck just happened?"
Templar base, 7:07 A.M.
Michael entered a large dome under the base. In the middle of the room, Slade was on his knees, facing the wall, head bowed, almost as if he were praying. The templar looked down at the cyborg from the walkway that circled around the room. "I'm beginning to wonder why i brought you back."
The cyborg's head didn't move, but Riley knew that he was being listened to.
"Let's review what you've done in the past year." Michael said as he began walking around the walkway that circled the perimeter of the room. "First, you killed Chris, which, of course, was an achievement that even I hadn't been able to achieve, so you have my congratulations. But, then, you tried to hack the assassin mainframe, and failed. Then, you sabotaged multiple missions, most of which were successful,yes, but were careless in approach and in success. Then, you failed to even find the assassins base. And, to top it all off, you killed our main info-broker, who had valuable information regarding the pain-in-the-ass of a group called the C.P.A, who are now allied with the assassins, after our failed attempt to recapture our lost base, making them an even bigger thorn in my side."
Michael stopped back at where he started. "You're failures so far have outweighed your successes. If that doesn't change soon, you may find yourself in a less than pleasant situation. "
With that, Michael left the room. As soon as the door closed, Slade raised his head so he was looking at the wall. He growled, his robotic eye glowing red.
As Riley left the room, he heard a strange noise coming from the council chamber. He sniffed the air. Someone was paying an unplanned visit. His eyes widened, turning a sharp yellow. He ran to the council chamber.
"I was wondering where you were, Lycaon." Michael heard a gun click then nudge against his head, Kyle standing behind him.
Standing before Michael was Diana, who was currently holding her hook sword at Taiyang's neck. Kyle stood behind Taiyang, indicating that the templar's hand had been bound by the chain whip. Taiyang didn't look hurt, but it was obvious that he didn't find amusement in the Situation at hand. Osiris sat in Michael's chair, feet propped up. He was inspecting a bottle of wine in his hands, and was acting like he owned the place.
Michael tensed up, preparing to attack, but Diana laughed.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Sgt. Wolfenstein. Those are silver bullets in Kyle's gun, and he is an excellent shot, especially with moving targets."
"What do you want?" Michael asked, relaxing, as he glared at Osiris.
Osiris sniffed the bottle. "The hell is this?"
"Be careful with that, it's-"
Osiris threw the bottle at the wall. It shattered on impact, the contents spilling everywhere.
"That was a Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 1992. That wine cost $500,000."
"Yeah, well, it ain't worth shit now. This, on the other hand…"
Osiris pulled out a bottle of irish whiskey.
"...this is the good stuff."
"Need I remind you who I am? I'm rich-"
"Because you stole money."
"-I'm an inventor-"
"Copyright infringement, mostly stolen from Gintz's home."
"-and I'm influential."
"You're a mass murderer who has a tendency to eat deer raw. Basically, your a cult leader, but even in that department, someone's doing the work for you."
"I'll ask again, brother. Why are you here?" Michael asked, his eyes once again turning yellow.
"I'm here for a conversation. You'll be interested to know that father is in the area."
Michael looked at Osiris, a surprised expression on his face, the expensive wine now forgotten. "Okay, you have my attention. Now, start talking, before I lose patience.."
Assassins Base.
The main room was chaotic. Screens were shattered, mainframes were smoking, the broken glass that had been overlooking the simulation dome, the one Marc had thrown Virgilia through, was all over the place, and the remaining microbots Sam had left as a "parting gift" were everywhere.
The assassins themselves were all around what remained of the main room, sitting or standing, all shouting and arguing, offering theories on what had just happened.
"How do we know that was even Chris?" Javi asked.
"How could it not be? We all saw him right there." Hayden said. He was busy trying to get the remaining microbots out of his clothes, without much luck.
"I don't know, maybe the templars found a doppelganger."
"That makes about as much sense as aliens being real. No, wait, scratch that, aliens are more believable!" Lily said. She was busy bandaging her arm, while Emily was attempting to stitch up the scars in Virgilia's back while using tweezers, ones she'd been hiding somewhere in her uniform, to pull out the remaining shards of glass.
"Then there's the fact that if he had been a doppelganger, Sam, Marc, and Robert would not have been helping him." Kaz added, wiping blood, that was dripping from his nose, off his face, while trying to pry a chair out of one of the monitors, until it finally came out. "Marc and Robert, at least, would've known that it wasn't Chris."
"How do we know they weren't doppelgangers?" Javi asked, as she bandaged up Nathan's shoulder, which had been cut during the pandemonium by Robert's claws. It wasn't a deep wound, but he was still grimacing and cursing like a sailor.
"I think-OW!-that was Marc. He definitely punches like it. SHIT! Would you be more careful with the fucking needle? And why the hell are you using tweezers?" Virgilia said.
"If you would hold still, this would be done quicker." Emily muttered.
"I agree with Virgilia. Whether that was Marc or not, the punches are the same." Rex said. He rubbed his sore jaw.
"At least we know that was Sam. Only he would've been stupid enough to attempt time travel." Ben said. He tenderly felt a bruise on his stomach from when he'd been rammed into the wall. He grimaced, and Maria heard him mutter. "So that's what Robert's infamous shoulder-tackle feels to self: no more playing football with him unless I'm on his team from this point forward."
"Getting back to the matter at hand, what are we going to do about this? No doubt we had an idea of what we were going to do, but, this changes everything." Maria said, looking at Scarlet with a concerned expression. Scarlet hadn't moved or said a word since Chris had left, and was just staring at the skid marks Chris's motorcycle had made.
"This changes nothing."
The group turned to Carter, who, until that point, had been thinking to himself quietly.
"What do you mean?" Death asked, though he looked like he already knew the answer, and he didn't like it.
"With the divine beings all in one spot, It will be easier to contain them then if they were spread out. The divine beings are especially violent, whenever they have a gathering, but they always have some reason for getting together."
"So you're saying they only get together when they all have a common goal?" Nathan asked as he rubbed his bandaged shoulder, the skin on his knuckles scraped, peeling, and bleeding. "Smart move."
"Why do you say that, Nathan?" Tomer asked, a fresh black eye on his face.
"That much supernatural activity would attract unwanted attention if it happened too often. That would make it easier for Frankie here to find them, and it might reveal their presence to the world, which could bloody well get some religious establishment involved. Trust me ,exorcisms usually ain't a pretty sight. And I don't mean something from a movie like The Exorcist. I mean real, bonafide exorcisms. And I doubt those would end well, considering these ain't normal demons."
Tomer raised an eyebrow. "How do you-"
"You don't wanna know, mate. Let's just say there's a legit reason the bloody Vatican tried to sue the creed for, as they put it, 'hindering the Lord's work'." Nathan said as he pulled out a cigar and took a puff.
"Don't call me Frankie. But, you are correct, mister Frye." Carter said, a look of something like respect on his face. "If the beings got together too often, it would develop a pattern, letting me predict their movements. Because of this, they only get together as a complete group when something can qualify as a threat. When this happens, even the most benevolent spirit becomes extremely violent."
"So, what's the plan?" Maria asked, while she crossed her arms. She had lost a tooth during the fight, and blood was dripping from her mouth, giving her the look of a hockey-player.
"The most effective, non-lethal way to disperse a divine being for a time is to separate them from their host. I can do this with relatively ease, if given the proper equipment and amount of time. Seeing as Jack somehow bonded with this body on a seemingly molecular level, we may have to take a different approach."
"Meaning what, exactly?" Rex asked, raising an eyebrow and putting an arm around Lily, who leaned into him. Through all the work of the last year, it was easy to forget that the two were dating.
"A more long term way to disperse of a being is to kill his or her host. This means the current host can't have children, forcing the being to leave the host and search for another, which can take centuries. Seeing as the two have bonded, we may be able to kill Jack by destroying his entire body."
As soon as Carter had finished that sentence, Scarlet's bowie knife flew through the air and impaled itself in the wall, barely an inch from Carter's face. Carter flinched slightly, and everyone looked at Scarlet, her eyes blazing with fury.
"Scarlet?" James asked, taken aback.
"Let me get this straight." Scarlet said, her voice dangerously quiet. "First, you create the divine beings. Then, you let them escape from your possession."
'I didn't let-" Carter began.
"I wasn't finished." Scarlet hissed.
Carter shut his mouth.
"Third, after a year of thinking Chris was dead, partly due to your creation, only for him to come back, relatively unchanged, and have him wreck the base. And you…"
Scarlet pried the knife out of the wall and glared at Carter. She pointed the blade at Carter's neck.
"...you expect us to kill him?"
"How do you know he's been pretending to be someone else? He could've just been playing all of you for fools." Carter said.
"He has pictures of the canonical five in his room as a reminder of what happens when Jack get's loose. Tell me, do you really think Jack the Ripper, of all people, would feel remorse for what he did?" Scarlet fired back.
"If one life needs to be taken to save thousands, i'd rather take that life." Carter said, though he was talking slowly, seeing as he currently had a bowie knife pressed against his throat.
"He's not some sacrificial lamb." Scarlet said angrily. "To you, he may be your oldest child, who really hates you, inside some kid's body. But, to me, he's my best friend. I am not losing him again."
"It sounds to me that you think of him as more than a friend, Ms. Diana." Carter said, arching an eyebrow.
Scarlet turned a deep red. "You-"
Javi put her hand on Scarlet's shoulder. Scarlet looked at her fellow assassin, and slowly sheathed her knife, though she was still staring daggers at Carter. (pun definitely intended.)
Javi looked at carter. "I agree with Scarlet. Chris isn't just some random kid that we know. We are all very close to him."
"You were very close to him." Carter said.
"We can sort this out later. Right now, let's just concentrate on finding Chris and the Horsemen." Death said, stepping in between the two.
"What's the plan, boss?" Natalie asked. That line was now starting to sound very repetitive, but it wasn't important.
"Well, part one is completed. Now part two is staying out of our way." A voice said from one of the dark corners of the room in a sarcastic tone. It was Plague, slowly emerging from the corner, hands up with a coy grin underneath his respirator.
"Now, before you even try to kill the messenger, what do you even plan to accomplish anyways? If it's throwing yourself in front of a moving train of progress, be my guest." He said, looking over to the small group, all with their weapons ready or just prepared for combat.
"I don't want to really hurt anyone in this room, but trust me when I say this, I will if need be. So, you have two choices. Either you put your weapons down and leave us to our plan, or just be the, 'heroes,' you think you are." The infected boy said, coughing a bit as he finished his last statement, short wheezes coming from him as he coughed.
"What's wrong with you?" Virgilia asked, as she slowly lowered her weapons. Scarlet was surprised that Virgilia had a look of concern on her face.
Marc walked over to a chair and nearly collapsed, sitting down in it as his coughing fit calmed down. "A lot is wrong with me. I thought you'd know that by now. There's a reason they call me, 'Plague,' Virgilia. Put two and two together.."
Most of the assassins eyes widened, but Scarlet just shook her head and sighed. "How long?"
"Since before we met. The disease increases my strength, but makes me more susceptible to attacks. Won't be long now before I'll be a 'glass tank.'"
"Did anyone else know?" Scarlet asked.
"Chris did."
'Why am I not surprised?" Scarlet muttered.
"How did Chris know?" Virgilia asked.
"Well, he caught me injecting myself with this antibiotic Sam had made that slowed down the virus. The fucker literally broke into my house, so when I got home, he was sitting on my couch, drinking my root beer, and holding up a vial of the stuff. I would've shot him if it hadn't been Chris. This was after he had 'died', so, of course, instead of shooting him, I had to punch him to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Of course, that did end up with me losing another tooth, so I figured it was him."
"So did he explain what he was doing?" Scarlet asked.
"Well, he tried to. I stopped paying attention after he said he needed the other horsemen to help kill something."
"He bribed you, didn't he?"
"Pretty much, it was worth it too."
"What did he bribe you with?" Maria asked.
"Spare parts?"
"Marc." Scarlet said, with a tone that sounded like a mother waiting for her child to tell her the truth.
"He offered an Xbox Gold membership, and a credit card, which I don't even know how he managed to get his hands on. Plus this respirator, which is much easier that injecting myself with the antibiotic. There was also some stolen weaponry and shit like that. Chris knows how I think." He said with a smile, chuckling a bit as the coughing returned.
"So when exactly did this happen?" Scarlet asked.
"About a month after he 'died.' Hey, on the bright side, I finally know what's going to kill me, and it's not going to be any one of you. Not only that, you won't have to worry about me for long." Plague said, slowly standing up and looking towards the group, the same sarcastic smirk behind his respirator, a small chuckle leaving his lips.
"So why are you here?" Scarlet asked.
"Like I said before, Scarlet. I'm just the messenger. Chris wanted you guys to willingly, key word right there, stay out of our way. So, I decided to volunteer and spread the word. I also spread the word about the plague that is slowly killing me as we speak." He said, soon looking over at Virgilia, a blank stare on his face.
"And why did you look concerned when I started coughing? I thought you'd be more concerned that a monster had just stumbled in your door, not the fact he's dying at an incredibly slow rate."
"I was just wondering why you bothered leaving with Robert and Sam if you were just going to come back." Virgilia said, though Scarlet did notice the girl was slightly blushing.
"I never lef-.. I just explained it was a decoy." He said, kind of annoyed, not noticing the light blush. Even if he did notice, he wouldn't really care.
"Getting back to the point, where is Chris?" Carter asked, walking up to Marc, the taller, infected boy looking down at him.
"Where is he? I honestly thought you guys knew but were just too much of cowards to go and actually confront him."
"Don't you know where he is?" Scarlet asked.
"Yeah, but why do you want to know?" He asked, clenching his right fist as he looked over at Scarlet.
"Why do you think? I have questions, and I want answers." Scarlet replied.
"Didn't I just say to stay out of the way? Either way, I'll tell you, under one condition." He replied, crossing his arms.
"I'm listening." Scarlet said.
"You allow me to join you guys. Only, I remain neutral. In all honesty, I'm not sure, with my condition, I'll be able to do much fighting. Again, I will if necessary."
"Weren't you just fighting six people at once?" Virgillia asked.
"While at the same time getting pretty weak, yes. But.. This is the last time I will say this, since you guys must not be good at listening.." He then looked Virgilia dead in the eyes and spoke slowly.
"I. Will. If. Necessary… Understood?"
"Fine. You're driving." Scarlet said, as she began walking to the garage.
"I'm the chauffeur now.. Great. Eh, either way. I can do that. What kind of vehicle do you have for me?"
" It's called your humvee. I doubt we need to worry about making an appearance, considering Chris is probably on some rooftop somewhere without a shirt on."
"Why would you assume that?" Virgilia asked.
"This is Chris we're talking about."
Plague nodded, chuckling a bit more. "She isn't wrong."
"Let's go." Scarlet said, walking out of the room, Plague trailing behind her.
The remaining assassins all looked at each other.
"So I guess we just wait here?" Rex asked.
"I guess so." Virgillia replied.
"We need to trail them. This is our one chance to-"
"Shut up, Carter."
"I wonder if you guys know I can still hear you." Plague called back to them, stopping in his tracks just to speak.
"Marc, Hurry up and start driving before I tell Chris about how you planned to sneak security camera's into his room."
"Now, would I really do that?" He asked sarcastically as he got into the humvee and started up the engine.
"Yes." everyone else said at once.
Plague simply shook his head, looking back at the group. "You guys think I'd spy on some other guy? Only person's room I'd put cameras in is her's." He said, pointing to Virgilia with a smile a he turned back around and began driving.
"You have camera's set up in everyone's room." Virgilia muttered.
"That's where you're wrong. Only in my own room so I can remotely play my Xbox wherever I am." He responded, still able to hear her.
With that, he drove off.
Downtown Memphis, 6:45 A.M
The Humvee stopped at a local bar near Beale Street, which, of course, was filled with underage teens.
"Why would Chris be here?" Scarlet asked plague.
"One of his 'brothers', an ex-templar, founded this place a year or so back. Even by my standards, it's not that great. It's literally a bunch of edgy kids who think they're hot shit because they either drink or smoke weed. Even had alcohol at one point. Chris will be here, simply because he gets free food, which is good, I'll admit, but also because this place has so many fights it should be turned into a boxing ring with a gambling circle. Seriously, there are even fights between the opposite sexes, which shows you the people who come here ain't choosy about who get's beat up."
"Any advice?" Scarlet asked, her hand resting on the handle of her bowie knife.
"If someone tries something, use the knife. The world could use less oxygen thieves. And if you can't get to your knife, use your fist. If you can't do that, for some reason, then I can come in."
"What if Chris steps in?" Scarlet asked, raising an eyebrow.
Plague laughed. "You need to ask?"
With that, the two walked in. A blonde, slim male walked up to them.
"Plague. What can I do for you?"
"Alexander. You seen Chris?"
Alexander shrugged. "He's here somewhere. I'll go look for him."
"Send him our way when you do."
Alexander looked at Scarlet as if he'd just noticed her. He got a sadistic yet somehow seductive look on his face.
"Who's your friend?" He asked Plague.
'Scarlet. She's Chris's best friend."
Alex lost the sadistic smile. "I see. Anyway, I'll go find Chris. There are seats open at the bar."
Plague nodded. He and Scarlet walked to the bar and sat down.
"How do you know that guy?" Scarlet asked.
"That's the guy who founded this shithole. Alexander Ramos. All around jackass and complete pervert. He's hosting the spirit of lust. Seeing as his Spirit is related to Jack, we've been made acquaintances over the last year. The dude's a fucking stalker, a creep, a sex offender, and a blackmailer to top it all off. Had a crush on one of the assassins, I think it was Nocturnal. He You don't wanna be alone with him in a deserted alley at night. Only reason he's staying away from you is because he doesn't want Chris, or me, to kick his ass to the fucking curb, in a body bag. Seriously, Chris can be scary as shit when he wants to be."
Marc ordered 2 root beers and handed one to Scarlet. Scarlet sipped it slowly, unlike Plague, who was already halfway done with his. "So how many of the divine beings have you found?"
"Pretty much all of them. Even found Osiris."
Scarlet did a spit-take, the soda drenching Plague. "Seriously?"
Marc wiped his face, looking at Scarlet with a very annoyed expression. "Yes, seriously. Made it a lot easier when he came back from Egypt."
"That explains why he left only a few days after he got back. Next time I see him, I'm gonna kill him." Scarlet muttered.
"That'll be interesting. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go dry my clothes." Plague said, standing as he headed to the nearest bathroom, moving his way through the club pretty easily as people seemed to clear out of his way on mere sight.
Scarlet shrugged and turned back to the bar. "I'll have another root beer."
"Make that two."
Scarlet looked to her right. A boy about her age, wearing dark clothes, was sitting down next to her. He turned to her and smirked. "How are you?"
She just looked at him, silently. She slowly put her hand on her knife's handle. He didn't seem to notice.
"Silent type, huh? Maybe this'll help."
The boy put a twenty on the bar. "I'm paying." He looked back at her. "Are you willing to talk now?"
While saying this, the boy put his other hand on her leg. Suddenly, the boy's hand that had been on the bar had a bowie knife keeping it there. The boy screamed in pain. Scarlet leaned in close, smiling sweetly.
"I'm not in the mood for your shit." She said. She then pulled the knife back out. The boy grabbed his hand and stumbled backwards. Through the pain, though, he somehow managed to laugh.
"Girl, you just made the biggest mistake of your life. Get her."
A group of boys ran at her. One threw a fist, but she dodged and busted her root beer bottle over his head, before throwing him to the floor while he was trying to stop the blood leaving his head.
Plague walked in and watched in amusement, smiling to himself as he drew in the crowd's attention, sitting at a table and leaning back in the seat. Another one swung a beer bottle at her, but she dodged and kneed the guy in the chin before spin kicking him.
"Start putting your bets in, I'd recommend putting money on the gang of chumps. I got two hundred bucks on them." He said with a light chuckle, knowing they were clearly going to lose.
Scarlet punched a third guy in the stomach and judo-flipped him onto the bar. When turned around, though, a fourth guy hit her in the face with a chain wrapped around his knuckles. She fell to the floor.
Plague noticed a figure standing in the shadows, watching the scene unfold. The two nodded at each other before Plague turned back to the table.
"You know. I think I'll put the same amount on the gang losing. I got some money to spend, why not?" He said to the other spectators, smiling behind his respirator. The other spectators laughed, thinking that they were gonna win money tonight.
"Hold her up." The first boy, his hand wrapped in cloth as to cover the hole, said. A fifth and sixth boy held her up by her arms, and the original boy began punching her repeatedly.
"You made a big mistake, impaling my hand. You know," he said, pulling out a switchblade. " I think I'll return the favor."
The ones who had bet on the gang turned to Plague, preparing to cash in their bets, but he held up his finger.
"Just wait a minute. Forgot to mention, starting now, all bets are final. This is where things get interesting."
The boy drew his hand back, preparing to stab Scarlet, but he suddenly felt something wrap around his wrist, and he howled in pain. It felt like a hundred tiny, burning needles had entered his arm and were staying there. Dropping the knife, he turned around, as did everyone else. A red chain encircled the teens wrist. At the other end of the chain was none other than Chris, still shirtless, who wasn't even looking at the guy, just smoking a cigar, head bowed.
"What the hell? Who do you-"
The boys sentence was stopped short when more chains came up from the ground, wrapping themselves around his legs and his other arm, forcing him to the ground. The boy struggled but couldn't move. Chris raised his head and looked at the teen.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked calmly.
"It's none of your business. I'm repaying this bitch a favor." The boy said arrogantly.
Chris walked up to the boy. "I'll ask again. What are you doing?"
"I'm fucking your sister. What do you think I'm doing?" The boy asked, sarcasm in his voice.
"And just like that, the poor kid signs his own death warrant." Marc said, smirking and leaning back in his chair.
Chris bent down a bit, now at eye level with the boy. He took the cigar out of his mouth and looked at it. Then, he crushed the cigar, using the kid's eye as an ashtray. The kid screamed in pain.
"One, she isn't my sister, and she isn't available. Two, you just pissed of the wrong guy." Chris said.
Scarlet couldn't help but blush at Chris's first comment. But that was short lived, as the guys holding her up literally tossed her into the wall before rushing towards Chris. One boy swung a bottle at Chris, but Chris ducked underneath, instantly coming back up with a knee to the chin before hitting the boy with a back fist. A second guy, knife in hand, rushed forward, but Chris pulled a table over to him, using it as a shield, so instead of becoming a shish kebab, the knife plunged in the wood. While the guy was occupied, Chris dropped the table, stomped on the back of the guys leg, then slammed his head onto the table. Plague was sitting back, enjoying the fight as he then slipped an acid vial of his under the table onto the ground. He kicked it over, making sure no one else noticed, the second kid who had his head slammed against the table landing on the corrosive material, burning his back as he landed on it. Chris looked at the last two guys. They looked at each other, looked at their friends who were currently on the floor, one was unconscious, the other currently screaming in pain, and looked back at each other. They then proceeded to run out of the building.
Plague looked at the other gamblers. "I believe I won. With that being said, hand over the money before I get that guy over here and do something about it." He said, gesturing to Chris.
"But you bet on the girl winning." One of the others said, Plague turning to face him.
"Which is the same as saying the gang of edgy fuckboys is going to lose. And I didn't say who they'd lose to." He said, correcting the guy with a sarcastic smile. Grumbling, the other gamblers forked over the money,
Chris looked at Scarlet. "You picked a hell of a way to start a fight."
"He was hitting on me. He thought he could sweet talk me. When that didn't work, he tried buying me. So, yeah, I think I'm justified." Scarlet replied.
"More than just hitting on her." Plague said, walking over to the two. "Trying to get way farther than that. Hell, I was about to pull out the camera."
"But instead you started a gambling circle?" Chris asked, crossing his arms.
"I could have made money off it either way, really. Just a bit more money off of gambling." He responded with a smile behind his respirator, chuckling lightly.
"You were the one who told me to use the knife if anyone tried something." Scarlet said.
"I would've dealt with him if you hadn't spit all over me…" Plague said, looking over to her, slightly squinting his eyes, clearly still annoyed by that. "And besides, everything worked out, didn't it?"
"I nearly got stabbed in the face, a guy's eye got used as an ashtray, and another guy's back melted.."
"Like I said, everything worked out."
Chris rolled his eyes and looked at Scarlet. "So why are you here, exactly?"
"I want answers. You left me a shitload of unanswered questions, and you owe me quite an explanation. If you don't, I'll go find Osiris."
"Is that a threat?" Chris asked.
"Yes."
The two glared at each other for a moment, before Chris smirked.
"Good to know you haven't lost your edge, Scarlet. Meet me on the rooftop in an hour. I'll be waiting for you."
"What about me? Am I going to sit here and vegetate?" Plague asked.
"You can go home." Chris said. "Or you can stay here. Do whatever the hell you want."
"You mean that rusted shack I gave up because when I joined you people would already know where I live? I can't go back there."
"No, I wasn't referring to that. Speaking of which, you did clear that place out, right? Knowing the assassins, they'll probably head over there to look for answers."
"You've studied history, right? The Scorched Earth policy?" He responds, raising an eyebrow.
"Actually, yes, I have. You really expect me believe you set your Xbox One on fire?"
"I cleared out the necessities, then I just had fun." Plague responded, heading back to his Humvee, still parked outside.
"Wait. So you just left Alex to fend for himself in that old gas station?" Scarlet asked.
"No. Of course not. I had a friend of mine give him a nicer place to stay. Honestly, it was much nicer than the place we used to live in." He says, turning around to face Scarlet.
"Never told us about that." Scarlet muttered.
"Now, if you'll excuse me. I have… People to talk to, Chris knows who I'm talking about." The man says, walking out the door, of course most people backing out of his way.
Scarlet shook her head and turned to look at Chris, but he'd disappeared. Scarlet shrugged and headed toward the roof.
Alex walked in. "I couldn't find-" His voice faltered when he saw the scene around him. "Oh. I guess he found them."
Unbeknownst to Scarlet, on a separate building, Felix sat, waiting, with a rifle in hand, propped on an air vent "Let's see if you're bulletproof, demon." However, this was not an ordinary rifle, this was one he kept for only special occasions. A modified, modernized Mauser Tankgewehr M1918. Clearly, he wanted to make sure that his target did not walk out alive.
Longest chapter, guys. Don't forget to comment on whatever the hell you want, as long as it's relevant. And, as always, See ya'll next time, whenever the hell that'll be.