Next Chapter... nothing much to say.

Fall of a Hero, Rise of a Legend

Chapter 36

Dave lay on the edge of sleep, just barely asleep, not dreaming at all. He had too much on his mind to sleep, everything that had happened, and the huge responsibility that had just been placed upon him, all of these thoughts weighed heavily on his mind.

Suddenly he felt a presence enter their room, Dave tensed up, wondering who it could be, whomever it was, did not announce themselves. Dave didn't know if this presence was friend or foe, and the eerie sound of light footsteps made him think the latter. In a moment the presence was by his and Mindy's side, whom was laying on top of him.

Dave prepared to lash out at the unidentified figure, thinking it best to defend himself first and apologize later, however right as his arm tensed he felt Mindy shift, and her hand quickly intertwined with his. Dave opened his eyes and saw that Mindy was staring off to their side, his eyes followed hers and he quickly spotted the small figure of a groggy and sad looking Sarah standing by their bedside.

"Hey there sweetheart, what are you doing here?" Dave asked kindly as he let out a tired sigh.

"I'm scared... I don't like being by myself." Sarah replied tiredly, as she rubbed her eyes.

Dave and Mindy shared a glance, before both let out sighs and Mindy rolled off her lover, onto her side of the bed.

"Do you wanna sleep with us?" Dave asked as he sat up.

Sarah nodded tiredly, in response. Dave quickly picked her up, and moved her between himself and Mindy.

"Are you okay Sarah? Is there anything you need?" Mindy asked, as she brushed some of Sarah's messed up hair, out of her face.

"I miss my daddy." Sarah replied sadly.

"I know." Mindy said with a sad nod, as she pulled Sarah into a gentle hug.

"Let's try to get some sleep." Dave stated after a moment.

Mindy glanced, up at Dave, even in the darkness of the unlit room, she could see how exhausted he looked.

"Yeah..." Mindy replied as she helped Sarah get situated between them.

Dave lay on his back staring up at the ceiling while Sarah and Mindy both lay on their sides, facing him. Mindy had her arms around Sarah and was holding her close.

Dave glanced over at Mindy and Sarah, Sarah had her eyes closed but Mindy was wide awake and staring back at him. Dave couldn't help but notice, even though Mindy was holding her in a gentle embrace, that Mindy's arms were locked in place. She almost looked like a mother panther protecting her young.

Dave offered her a sad smile before closing his eyes and trying to return to sleep.

Mindy smiled back, as Dave shut his eyes, she stared at him for a moment, before letting out a light sigh and trying to sleep as well.

-Later-

Mindy awoke from a creepy tentacle dream... it was weird, and for some reason not as sexual as it sounded. But still for some reason she felt dirty for having dreamed about it.

"Lucy and her fucking fan-fiction." Mindy muttered distastefully as she recalled reading a story about Hit-Girl fighting a tentacle monster and well...

"There are some sick fuckers in the world. Do people even realize I'm sixteen?" Mindy hissed to herself as she stretched. She quickly realized that she was alone sprawled out in the bed.

Mindy sat up and glanced around, Dave and Sarah were both gone. For only the slightest microsecond, mother bear mode kicked in, and she shot to her feet, but immediately stopped, and calmed down.

"Fucking nerves." Mindy stated to herself, as she noticed how sweaty she was.

She glanced down and figured out why. She was wearing her purple pants, along with a simple white tank top. She vaguely recalled, walking into there room last night and seeing Dave lying in bed, wearing his costume pants, and shirt. Mindy remembered following suite and taking off her wig, jacket, bullet-proof vest and cape, and falling into bed next to him. She was even still wearing her boots.

"I really need a shower." Mindy stated, as she stepped out of the room, and made a move to find Dave, and Sarah first.

She found them in the kitchen, Dave sat on the counter eating some cereal, while Sarah sat on the floor playing with magnetic letters. She was trying to write something on the fridge. Mindy made a face, and then let out a little laugh as she noticed her purple wig, planted firmly on Sarah's little head. Mindy glanced over at Dave, who simply smiled and shrugged.

"Hey there. What are you up too?" Mindy asked as she walked over to Sarah and knelt next to her.

"Nothing." Sarah replied in a neutral tone of voice.

Mindy just stared at her for a moment, before glancing back up at Dave who just stared down at Mindy with a look of sadness.

Mindy looked back at Sarah and was about to say something when the sound of panting filled her ears. She glanced over just as Sarah looked up, and stated happily "Eisenhower!"

Eisenhower shook her tail happily and trotted over to Sarah's side, whom rose up to her knees, and hugged the animal with glee.

Mindy smiled slightly at the sight, and quickly rose to her feet, and got herself some breakfast.

The next two hours went by surprisingly normal, Sarah went about her usual routine, there was only the slightest hint of sadness, when the young girl would shoot up, look around and realize that her father wasn't present. Dave and Mindy remained by her side, never venturing far from her, in fact they didn't do much other then watch Sarah for the few hours it took some of the others to wake up, and begin moving about the headquarters.

"Hey guys." Katie greeted them, as she walked into the living room, where they were watching Sarah play with Eisenhower.

"Hey." Mindy replied glancing up at her.

"How is she doing?" Katie asked as she sat next to Mindy on the couch.

"I don't think it's really set in yet." Dave replied.

"It was a few days before it really hit me that my dad was gone." Katie stated, with a sad nod.

"What is it with this war, and losing fathers?" Dave asked, with a bit of annoyance.

"I have no clue." Katie replied with a sigh.

"How are you guys doing?" Katie asked after a moment.

"Dealing." Mindy replied, tiredly.

"Hey Katie... do me a favor and get the others." Dave stated after a moment.

"Why?" Katie asked as she glanced at him, she noticed him staring off towards the kitchen, she followed his gaze, and it fell onto the imposing figure of Alex Matrix standing in one of the doorways.

A few moments later, the rest of Justice Forever joined them in the living room, Dave asked Alex to share his story with them.

First off, Alex was built like a tank. He looked like Bane from batman, bald head, deep voice, he was very similar to Cain, if only a little thinner. His face was hard, and scarred up like you wouldn't believe. He had almost thirty little scars all over his cheeks and forehead, along with two wide jagged scars, one running down across his nose, and the other from his right cheekbone to his chin.

"Very well... you wish to hear my story... then I shall tell you. I was born into the DRAGON program, along with Samuel here," Alex began to explain, as he mentioned Samuel's name, the super-spy simply dropped his gaze and snorted in reply, "The DRAGON program was formed by the Chinese, Japaneses and British governments. The point of the program was to create genetically, and surgically enhanced soldiers. Cain was also a member of this project... we were raised in China, and were taught about the ten dragons, that ruled over life and death. We were raised on the ideal that these dragons were the ultimate warriors, and apex of creation and power, and that if we trained hard enough, and survived the grueling experiments they performed on us, then we could ascend to the level of one of these dragons. We were trained from a very young age, to be killers. They worked us hard, and beat us brutally, they wanted to craft the perfect fighters. There were two thousand five hundred, candidates for the program, by the time we were teenagers, and had completed our training, there were less then two hundred of us left. After we finished with our training, we underwent a series of surgeries that augmented our abilities. All of the procedures were highly experimental and they usually caused the subjects to die, but those that survived turned into incredible fighters." Alex explained to the group.

"So... that's why Cain is such a good fighter, he's been experimented on?" Mindy asked, trying to wrap her head around the idea.

"Yes... there were three divisions, one to create shock troopers, one to create commandos and one to create assassins. Cain and I were part of the commando unit.. they focused on turning us into black ops level soldiers, and they trained us extensively in military tactics. The shock trooper division was focused on creating walking tanks, warriors with incredible endurance, and battle fortitude, while the assassin program, that Samuel was a part of, focused on speed and reflexes... along with stealth, infiltration and subterfuge... these men and woman were trained to be like ninja's of old. By the time our surgeries were completed, there were fewer then thirty of us left..." Alex continued to explain, sounding completely disinterested with everything that came out of his mouth.

"So... what did these surgeries do, exactly?" Dave asked, while scratching his head.

"They augmented our abilities depending on which division we were in. We weren't turned into super-soldiers or anything, but they used the surgeries to modify our bodies and push us to the limit of human abilities. Cain and I are as strong as Olympic level athletes, while Samuel could run as fast as an Olympic sprinter. That's what these surgeries did, though as I said they were highly experimental and most of the time resulted in the subjects death." Alex replied.

"That's just fucking great." Dave whined as a lot of the JF members grumbled under their breath.

"Each one of the surviving subjects was branded with a large dragon tattoo on their backs to symbolize their ascension to super-human powers. We aren't super-human, you shoot us we die, we are just really tough, strong and fast. Our tattoos show our progress within the program and our ancestry. If you come from Europe, you get a European dragon, while if you're Chinese you get a Chinese dragon and so on and so fourth. The dragon tattoo, is made more intricate and colorful as you advance within the program, and to us, it serves as a mark of passage..." Alex explained as he turned around and lifted his shirt, revealing a ripped back covered in scars, but also a beautiful and intense European dragon tattoo that covered most of his back.

"Wow... so you have one like that?" Marty asked Samuel.

"Yes." Samuel replied casually.

"Every time you win a fight against a person you see as worthy, you may expand the tattoo. That's how it works, and how we identify who is the strongest amongst us." Alex added as he covered his tattoo and turned to face them.

"So what happened to you and Cain?" Dave asked after a moment of thought.

"Cain was an amazing warriors but no one ever noticed him... Samuel was the star of the project, everyone's eyes were on him, Cain resented him for this, we all did. No matter what we did, it never compared to Samuel... so there was always resentment. As a teenager Cain was sent out alone on a mission, while he was on mission he met a young man and the two became friends... that man filled Cain's head with purpose and lofty ideals... when he came back from his mission, Cain was a changed man, a year later he left the project and vanished... I was one of the few that decided to follow him, seeing as how he and I were friends at one point. I eventually found him, and we teamed up, at the time he was traveling with the young man he had met on his mission, who has now grown up into the Skull Collector. The three of us traveled as mercenaries for a few years and our numbers began to grow, eventually we met an old sage that informed us that the Dragon myth we had been fed as children was real, and he told us how to grant humanity immortality. That's where our quest began and where Cain changed, he became obsessed, and developed a messiah complex, and became vicious. At one point, he ordered me to kill a young woman and her child... I refused, so in retaliation he tied a cinder block to my feet and threw me off a cliff into the ocean. I survived and have been in hiding ever since... that's the short of it." Alex finished explaining with a sigh.

"Well shit..." Mindy hissed as she brushed Sarah's hair.

"Well shit!" Sarah copied.

"Mindy!" Marcus chided.

"Sorry." Mindy winced, and scratched her head.

Marcus simply sighed, and shook his head.

"Alright... like I said yesterday... if you stand against Cain and the order... then you have a home here, and we would be more then willing to accept your help." Dave stated in an authoritative manner.

Alex stared at him for a moment, sizing him up before sighing and nodding his head in agreement.

"It's not like it'll matter what I do. You face a man driven by a belief that has been branded into his mind, and he stands with an army of loyal followers, who would die for him with a smile." Alex stated, seriously.

"Good... I look forward to the challenge." Dave shot back in reply.

"Very well, then for now... I am yours." Alex stated with a polite bow.

"Alright guys... I know we all must be reeling from yesterday, but we need to keep out heads in the game," As he mentioned it, Dave noticed Sarah's head drop in sadness, luckily Mindy was right by her side and wrapped a comforting arm around the little girl. Dave mentally kicked himself before continuing. "We need to stay on alert, and remain focused... the order will be out looking for us, and once they realize that Alex is with us, they will direct all of their attention into hunting us down. We need to prepare, and train like we've never trained before. The Order of Carnage is coming, and we need to be ready, when they finally find us." Most of the group members nodded, and rose to their feet, they quickly began dispersing.

A few minutes later, Mindy and Dave found their way into the training room, the two began sparring with one another, but neither of their hearts were in it.

"What are we going to do about her?" Dave asked as he blocked one of Mindy's kicks.

"What do you mean?" Mindy asked as she backpedaled to avoid a high kick from Dave.

"You don't really think we can take care of Sarah and fight this war at the same time do you?" Dave asked, as Mindy avoided a swift right cross.

"Of course we can, besides... we promised." Mindy replied.

"I know we promised... but you know that the chances of either of us making it through this war are slim enough... do you really think it's a good idea to tie that little girl's future to our own?" Dave asked as he dropped his fists and relaxed.

"What are you trying to say Dave?" Mindy asked, eying him curiously.

"I'm saying what if we take her in, what if we become mommy, and daddy, and then we get killed... do you really think it's a good idea to put Sarah into a situation where she could lose another parental figure... or both. Are we simply going to follow in Fred's footsteps and ask someone else to watch over her in we fall. Who would you even ask, Marcus? I think he'd say yes... but do you really want to put him in that position. As a father, Fred didn't have a choice. It couldn't have been easy for him to ask us to watch over her... Do you think it's right for us to do the same... cuz is we take her in... that's exactly what we're going to have to do." Dave explained his worry.

"Look Dave those are all what ifs... and besides, it's not a matter of what we feel, she needs us and I plan on helping her no matter what. So man up... cuz I don't wanna do this by myself." Mindy berated him and brushed off his fears.

Dave just let out a loud sigh and returned to training.

Sometime later Mindy was walking in the armory, when she spotted Sarah standing in front of a large glass case that contained Big Daddy's armor.

"Hey what are you doing in here?" Mindy asked as she walked up to her.

"I was just lookin'." Sarah replied, innocently.

"Yeah?" Mindy asked with a smirk.

"Who was he?" Sarah asked, her gaze locked on the armor.

"He was my daddy." Mindy replied with a little sadness.

"Is he gone?" Sarah asked, glancing up at Mindy.

"Yeah... he is, but I'm sure that he's still keeping an eye on me." Mindy replied as she knelt down in front of Sarah.

"Do you think that my daddy is watching me?" Sarah asked sadly.

"Yes sweetheart. I'm sure he is. You know your daddy love you very much. You were all he ever thought about. He wanted so much to make this city safe for you." Mindy explained with a pained look.

"I miss him." Sarah stated, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"I know... I miss my daddy too." Mindy stated as she pulled Sarah into a hug.

Sarah immediately began to cry again. She wept loudly into Mindy's shoulder. All Mindy could do was hold the poor girl, and hope that someone else happened by, to assist her.

In the end no one showed up, but it didn't matter Sarah cried herself to sleep after a few minutes, and Mindy was able to carry her to her and Dave's room.

Mindy stayed with her as she slept, and eventually Dave wandered into the room.

"Hey..." He said as he walked in and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Hey." Mindy replied with a gentle smile. Sarah was cuddled up next to Mindy, fast asleep.

"Look... I did some thinking... and, if you wanna try this, then I'm with you. I don't think it's a good idea... but I'll keep my promise." Dave stated after a moment.

"Good... I knew you wouldn't flake. You're always there when it counts." Mindy complimented him with a smile. After a moment she patted the bed and motioned for Dave to join them.

Dave let out a sigh and then complied, he crawled up next to them, and got comfortable. "Hey Mindy... how long did it take?" Dave asked.

"How long did what take?" Mindy asked in reply.

"For you too move on, after your dad died. How long did it take?" Dave explained.

"It took a long time... and it was hard. Even now I still think about him all the time, and I've never stopped missing him." Mindy responded with a sad shrug.

"Yeah I know what you mean... I don't know if I'm over my dads death either. There are times when I almost forget that it happened, like he just went away for a little while and he'll be back tomorrow, and then there are other times when it hits me." Dave admitted.

Mindy stared at her lover for a few moments... thinking of something to say that would make sense or that would help him, finally a thought came to her. "My daddy is the second to last person I say goodnight to, every night."

"Really? Who's the first?" Dave asked in reply.

"You." Mindy answered with a small smile.

"Yeah... I get that too." Dave said with a smile.

"It'll take time Dave... just like it did for me, just like it still is for you. But eventually you both will be able to live with it. Just give it some time." Mindy stated as she reached out and caressed Dave's cheek.

"I know... I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about it recently, but now that I am... I miss him." Dave admitted sadly.

"I know." Mindy affirmed as she leaned close and gently kissed him.

"I just hope that wherever he is, he forgives me for breaking my promise... and that he's proud of me." Dave admitted sadly, he almost looked like tears might spring fourth.

"Wherever your dad is now... I'm sure he forgives you, and I know with all my heart that he would be so proud of you." Mindy said with a wide smile.

"You always know what to say to make me feel better." Dave stated with a grin.

"I know." Mindy said with a nod.

"This is really going to suck... I hope you realize that." Dave stated after a moment.

"I know... It's going to really fucking suck... but we'll get through it." Mindy replied.

"For Christ sake Mindy... and you wonder where she gets her potty mouth from." Dave said with a shake of his head.

"Dammit!" Mindy hissed, realizing that Sarah was still in her arms.

"Ehhh... whats a little girl got to do to get some damn sleep!" They both hear Sarah whine as she snuggled into Mindy's side.

"Yeah... Mindy... keep your fucking voice down... and watch you damn language!" Dave giggled.

"Shut up!" Mindy leered at him.

Dave just laughed in reply and laid back, trying to get comfortable.

"You know... if you ever want her to be normal... your going to be the one to have to teach her right from wrong." Mindy commented as she too, sat back.

"I know... I'll feed her, I'll teach her right from wrong, and be the strong supportive figure, you just hang back and offer snarky comments and give her baths." Dave replied stalely.

"See... you've already got this whole thing figured out." Mindy stated sarcastically.

"Ugh...! Sleep!" Sarah whined again.

"Right sorry!" Dave apologized and leaned over to shut the light off.

"A lots going to change now... right?" Mindy asked, as darkness enveloped the room.

"Yeah... we're going to need to make some changes as to how we do things. But we'll worry about all that tomorrow... for now... let's let troublemaker rest... and let's try to get some sleep." Dave replied, calmly.

"Okay." Mindy responded, as she let out a sigh. Mindy closed her eyes and began to let sleep overtake her, however Cain and the order of Carnage weren't far from her mind, and the horrors that the obsessive nightmare, might unleash plagued her mind. She quickly pushed those thoughts aside and turned to more comforting ones... like the little family that she now had... family... Dave and Sarah were her family now...

Mindy drifted into slumber with these thoughts, and her mind used them to fuel dreams of the future, and the possibility of her and Dave having their own child...

Okay this is a shorter chapter... I will release an update soon, please let me know what you think and as always I can't wait to hear your thoughts... TILL LATER!