"Alright, now that I have everybody's attention..." He calmly said. "Let's get this over with real quick."
Jack and Gareb stayed just in the darkness of the doorway to be able to see this unknown, skull faced, shooter while still remaining hidden. It was obvious to Jack that he was either military or ex-military and considering the way he was able to fire an assault rifles in each hand, he was also very strong. As he began to move deeper into the alley, Jack could almost feel the murderous intent that came off of him. It was only now that Jack saw just how many people had been caught in his gunfire. All of them were dead, randomly killed for no reason other than to tell everyone that he was there. This was was a cold-hearted killer from what Jack could see.
"There were weapons fired in this alley. They look like this." He said. "One was a shoulder fired missile. It makes a big noise. I'm sure you would remember it."
Within five sentences, Jack became more intimidated by this man than Silas had ever made him. He walked up to the only one of his unfortunate victims who was still alive. He had been hit in the back and was unable to move. Jack could see that he was a very unkempt vagrant, teeth missing and wearing tattered clothing. The skull faced soldier stood above him with his rifle resting against his shoulder.
"Tell me where they are." He said as he began kicking the poor man in his side. "Or I'll put you worthless pieces of shit out of your misery."
The vagrant was barely able to mumble out his response with little coherency.
"I-I don'know." He muttered almost too low for Jack to hear him.
"I think you're a smart old fart."
The soldier lowered his weapon at the vagrant and pressed the barrel against his temple.
"Now let's just see how high that IQ of yours is."
Panic began to rise in the homeless old man.
"No...no...no." He was able to mutter a little louder.
"Tell me where the guns are." The man ordered.
"I don't know." The man said more clearly this time in a pleading tone. He pointed further down the alley. "Maybe Al..."
"Al?" Jack whispered to himself.
"Uh, Al?" The soldier asked. "Oh, is Al the guy who knows things around here? Okay, let's go talk to Al."
He began dragging the vagrant behind him by the collar of his shirt, the poor man mumbling frightened words behind him.
"Hey." The soldier said. "You gonna have to speak up if you wanna be heard."
Little did the vagrant, the soldier, or Jack know, they were being watched. Spawn was higher up somewhere, listening in on the whole thing. He wanted to make sure that whatever was going on, Jack was out of the alleys. But the moment he saw this ex-soldier with a skull painted on his face, familiarity began to stir inside of him.
You're gonna have to speak up if you wanna be heard.
Al heard him say that and a memory from his fragmented past came back to him.
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Uganda, 20 years ago.
Al stood by as his partner crouched over the child soldier he had just shot down who was still clinging to life. He was choking on his words and his blood, speaking in a language Al couldn't understand. From the way he was crying, he could tell that he was pleading for his life. Al had already been accustomed to the horrors of combat, but this was new to him. He looked over to another child soldier that was already dead by one of their bullets.
'Jesus, he's just a kid.' Al thought. 'Never thought this job would come to this.'
His partner's attitude couldn't have been more opposite. He was amused by the whole thing, including the child's begging.
"Ah, what?" He mocked. "You gonna have to speak up kid, if you wanna be heard."
He the stood up and aimed his rifle at the young boy, who was probably forced to fight in this conflict against his will, and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered onto his chin and he looked to Al with enjoyment.
"It's not just a job, it's an adventure." He said.
Al looked off at somewhere else, taking a drag from his cigarette and acted as if he was unaffected. But when he looked on to the homes and bodies that were burning before him, all he could think of was the hell that waited for him when he died for the things he had done.
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Something was clicking inside of Spawn's memories that had been altered and tampered with by Malebolgia. But even among the false memories of Wanda's and Terry's betrayal, he knew that this one was real. He knew this man, but he couldn't remember where he knew him. As the ex-soldier dragged away Amos, one of the less all together in the head bums in this hell hole, Spawn kept close watch over the skull faced intruder of his alleys.
"Oh, Al?" He called calmly.
Jack watched hopelessly as the vagrant was left at the mercy of this killer and was tempted to do something. But what could he do? He was just a kid, a Prime, but still a kid. If only Optimus was there, he'd save the poor old guy. Jack didn't even entertain the thought of Spawn coming to his rescue. He had already lost faith in him after the conversation they had.
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Ratchet told him fifteen minutes. It had already been an hour and Arcee would be back any minute from patrol. The medic cursed himself for losing track of time. When he remembered that Jack was still out, he said to himself that Jack was a responsible kid and could take care of himself. That was, until he remembered where he had gone and everything he had learned the previous day. Now, he was getting worried. Jack was not answering his phone and if he didn't come back soon, he was going to have to tell Optimus, Arcee, and June. The latter of the two would have his spark removed once they found out that he let Jack go to such a dangerous place. Finally getting fed up, Ratchet re-entered the coordinates to where he had sent Jack.
"Rafael, I want you to man the ground bridge and wait for my call to bring me back."
Rafael put his laptop down and walked over to the rails.
"Where are you going, Ratchet?"
"I'm going to go get Jack."
Rafael looked worried.
"Is he in trouble?"
"I don't think so, but he's taking his sweet time and I don't need June Darby disassembling me while Arcee holds me down. So, take control of the ground bridge and be alert. I shouldn't be long."
Rafael nodded his head and went over to the human console of the ground bridge controls.
"Hey, Ratchet?" Raf asked.
"Yes, Rafael?"
"Was Jack really one of the kids that got kidnapped by Billy Kincaid?"
Ratchet didn't know why he was surprised. Raf would've made the connection the moment he found out that Jack had gone to Rat City where the victims bodies were found.
"Yes, he was, Rafael. But that...so called human being is gone now and he isn't terrorizing anymore children wherever he is. Jack just wanted to pay respects to his victims. But he's taking too long for my comfort and I just want to bring him home. I don't believe he's in any danger, though. Regardless, don't tell Arcee or his mother about this."
"I won't, Ratchet. Just make sure he's okay. I'll stay by the controls and wait for you."
"Thank you, Raf."
Rafael opened a ground bridge, allowing Ratchet to drive through in his alt form. Raf didn't question why Jack never told them about this whole thing. It wasn't something anyone would want to talk about. He just hoped that Jack was alright. The alleys where he and Cyan Fitzgerald were rescued was a place where a lot of bad things had happened before that night. When he researched the details of the kidnapping, he found out just how many murders happened there...and the brutality of every one. Someone or something had killed those mobsters, reporters, and homeless with such barbarity, Raf wondered if whoever was behind was even human at all. After everything he had come to learn since meeting the Autobots, he wasn't sure what was possible in the realm of reality anymore.
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Jack's fist was balled so tight, if he hadn't kept his nails clipped, he would've been digging them into his palm. He just couldn't stand what was happening in front of him. Amos was strung up now by the soldier against a panel of wood. Bound by rope, he was crucified upside down and being beaten mercilessly by his interrogator. The poor man kept saying that he didn't know anything about any guns, but the soldier wouldn't listen. Every blow was fleshy and painful. Jack knew he saw a tooth fly out of his mouth from the last closed fist that connected to his face.
Jack couldn't bear it anymore and looked away. Gareb comforted him by placing his hand on his shoulder. The soldier then smashed an empty glass bottle against his face, leaving him with makeshift cutting instrument.
"Look at that, broken glass." He said as he twirled the face shredder in a threatening manner. "Good as a scalpel."
Knowing that the torture was only going to get worse, Amos grew more desperate to convince the soldier that he had no idea what he was talking about.
"I..I don't...I don't."
The soldier didn't like that answer and slipped the glass into the vagrant's flesh, making him to cry in excruciating pain.
"The guns, our guns, Amos." The soldier impatiently said. "It's not like you're protecting the family jewels. But hey, I can cut those off too."
Take away the patience and faux pleasantness of Airachnid and you had this psycho. Jack wasn't sure if the spider-femme would've taken a liking to him or saw good sport in hunting him. The teen now regretted ever coming to these alleys. His savior turned out to be nothing like he remembered and now, he was forced to watch an innocent old man be beaten to death by some gun-toting sociopath. Jack wished that he had even a fraction of the power the Autobots had so he could save Amos. He could've been a drunk or an addict for all Jack knew, but he didn't deserve this.
Out of nowhere, Spawn descended from above and landed behind the two. Jack was surprised to see the red cloak in front of him, having already decided that Spawn didn't give a frag about anything or anyone. Even now, he wasn't convinced that he was actually here to save Amos.
"Well, what have we here?" The soldier asked as he looked behind him.
He threw the bottle away and drew one of the rifles from his shoulder.
"Al?" Amos weakly said. "Al?"
'His name is Al?' Jack thought. 'I thought his name was Spawn?'
"Are you Al?" The soldier asked skeptically and mockingly before he started to laugh. "What is this, Gay Pride Day or somethin'? Hey, I like the mask, but I think the cape is a little much."
The soldier followed the insult by spitting a loogie right in Spawn, or Al's, face. He didn't seem to appreciate that. Spawn began to tower over the soldier, somehow, spreading his cloak and his chains, his body still hidden in darkness. The soldier let his battle cry be heard and he opened fire on Spawn. The alleys were lit up with muzzle flashes and echoed with gunfire and ricochets. Suddenly, it was six years ago all over again, with Jack left speechless by what this being could do. The bullets didn't seem to affect him in the slightest. In fact, the few that actually hit him looked as if they disappeared in the blackness that obscured him within his cloak.
Spawn's cape snaked around the soldier's ankle while his chain wrapped around his rifle and pushed it away. He pulled the soldier's ankle forward, causing his to lose his footing and fall on his back.
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Al's partner, now wearing a karate gi, hit the mat hard as his sparring partner stood straight. He sat up and looked at Al in bewilderment.
"How the hell did you do that?" He asked.
"Stand up and I'll show you?" Al replied.
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Another memory, Spawn realized. The more he fought this man, the more came back to him. The soldier got up quickly, now missing one of his rifles, and rushed to right hook Spawn square in his face.
"Son of a bitch!" The soldier said.
Spawn looked like he didn't even feel the hit.
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"Ha!" Al's partner cried as he slammed his elbow into his face and knocked him off his feet.
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It was as if the punch had knocked some memories back into place and now that he was standing face to face with him, Spawn could see him more clearly. He grabbed the soldier by the throat, keeping his grip tight and choking the soldier as he examined him closely. Behind the painted skull, he could see his face.
"It's you." He said as he lifted him off his feet. "Chapel."
"Chapel." Jack said, now having a name to go with the face. Somehow, Spawn knew this guy.
"I remember you." He said.
Spawn's cape came to life and wrapped around his head. Suddenly, the cape took him from Spawn's grip and threw him head first into the boarded doorway where Jack, Gareb, and Bobby were hiding. They all moved out the way as Chapel smashed through the boards and into the building. Jack watched from the shadows as the silhouette of Spawn, and his glowing eyes, walked up to the door with Chapel's weapon in hand. Without any effort at all, Spawn gripped the barrel of the rifle and broke it off like it was made of cheap plastic. Chapel was still down from being thrown through the doorway while Spawn turned away to something else. Gareb grabbed Jack and they left the building along with Bobby.
"Go, kid." Gareb said.
But Jack didn't forget about Amos, who was still strung up on the wooden panel. When he looked back, he saw Spawn ripping the binds that held him in place. When he fell to the floor, Gareb and Bobby rushed to get the beaten man somewhere safe.
"It's okay, Amos." Gareb said. "I gotcha'."
Gareb looked to Jack, signalling him to take this chance to leave. Knowing that Amos was safe and that Spawn would probably deal with Chapel, Jack saw no reason to stay. But just as he was about to run away, he heard the sound of a weapon being cocked back. Now, he knew that Chapel wasn't aiming at him, but he wasn't about to be running out in the open while a machine gun was going off. His mother would kill him if he ended up getting hit with a stray bullet. So Jack hid behind a partially torn down wall and waited for the shooting to start. Once it stopped, he was going to book it out of there.
Chapel crept out from the darkness of the empty building with his rifle/grenade launcher drawn. But to his and Jack's utter shock, Spawn disappeared into thin air.
"What the fuck?" Chapel muttered to himself.
Jack then heard something echoing throughout the alley, coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was almost like the voice that was yelling to kill from six years ago.
"jess chapelchapelchapel...from Joliet, Illinois." The voice said.
"Say what?" Chapel responded, nervousness beginning to set in.
"Jess Chapel." Spawns voice, now clearer, echoed. "From Joliet, Illinois. That's where the state prison is...where you were born."
"jess chapelchapelchapel" The faint voiced echoed again.
"Who the fuck are you?" He demanded to know.
There was a silence in the alley and Jack was still afraid to run for it, knowing the shooting was going to start any minute. Chapel suddenly saw a pair of glowing eyes in appear in the shadows.
"Your worst fucking nightmare." Spawn answered his question.
Chapel backed away slowly, lifting his rifle to aim, letting the shadows partially hide him. Then he started shooting. Jack ducked behind the wall and covered his ears as bullets ricocheted off of brick walls and metal dumpsters. Chapel didn't manage to hit anything worth hitting. Realizing that his target had disappeared again, he gripped his weapon tightly. He was afraid now. He had no idea what the hell he was dealing with. But there was only one person who knew where he was from and where he was born.
"Say it." Spawn ordered.
Chapel didn't want to say, to even entertain the thought.
"Al?"
"Yeah." Spawn, still nowhere to be seen, said. "We know each other real well. I know where you buried that girl in Guatemala."
Chapel heard something moving above him, but looked to see nothing there.
"I even know about that singer in Rio, Don Juan of killers, you said."
No, it couldn't be. The only person who knew any of that had been dead for years. Chapel watched him burn alive.
"You're not him." Chapel muttered just loud enough for Jack to hear. "YOU'RE NOT HIM!" He yelled loud enough for the whole alley to hear.
"Why don't you tell me who I am?" Spawn replied calmly, yet threateningly. "Tell me. Tell me who I am!"
Chapel went back to the day he saw Al last, when he walked up to him, armed with a flamethrower. He remembered how he pointed the weapon at his partner, friend, brother in arms, and set him aflame.
"Simmons?"
Al Simmons, that was his name.
"I want you to feel what it's like, trapped in a box, no light, no air, suffocating in the darkness, and left to rot!" Spawn's voice was heard from above.
Chapel screamed in panic and fired off a grenade round at the tallest building in the alley where the voice was coming from. Jack saw Spawn falling amidst the rumble and get buried beneath it when it all landed. Even after what he had said to him, Jack hoped that he wasn't dead. But if what he had just heard was true, he was dead before either he or Chapel even got there. Chapel walked up the pile of rumble in a state of shock. Leaning against a stone wall, he reached into the pocket of his vest and pulled out a loose cigarette. Both his hands were shaking as he lit it. He took one long drag and let himself slide into a crouch. He looked on at the rumble, still unnerved by what he had just witnessed.
"Jesus Christ." He said, the night already taking a toll on him.
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Ratchet was kicking himself right now. True, he wasn't suited for field work so he never had a reason to venture outside of the base and into human society. But his refusal to even become acquainted with the cities of this planet had left him with a lousy sense of direction. He was only a block or two away from where Jackson had asked to be sent, but he couldn't find the alleys. It was beginning to seem like he would have no other choice but to ask Rafael for help, which wouldn't normally be a problem. But he wasn't sure if Arcee had returned to base and he didn't want her to hear him calling for help to look for her partner.
But the more he drove around the city, the more he was beginning to worry about Jack. This place was a slum, a ghetto, as humans would call it. The buildings were run down, people lied passed out on the sidewalks, he saw women walking around barely wearing anything and looking sickly, and femmes that were clearly not women, but girls around Miko's age, doing the same. And it seemed that every five minutes, Ratchet saw law enforcement somewhere in the area. Why in the world did he let Jack come to this place alone? Ratchet needed to find him quickly. He was not safe in this neighborhood. As if Ratchet wasn't worried enough, he stopped when he heard an explosion erupt from somewhere behind him. From his mirrors, he could see the smoking rising from a building in the distance. Ratchet had no idea if Jackson was anywhere near the explosion, but he wasn't taking any chances. He turned his ambulance around and headed for the sight of the explosion. He prayed to Primus that if Jackson was there, he was unharmed. This city tried to claim him once before. It will not have a second chance.
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"No one could survive that! C'mon!" Bobby yelled.
"Al!" Gareb called. "Can you hear me? C'mon, Al?!"
"What'chu doin'?! He's dead! The whole fuckin' buildin' fell on'em!" Bobby replied.
"Help me get this rubble of him!" Gareb yelled back.
They were both shouting over each other as they dug through the rubble he was buried under. Jack still hadn't left the alleys, not wanting to leave Spawn buried. He ran up to the rubble and began helping Bobby and Gareb try to dig him out. A shadow cast over them and they saw Chapel standing over the whole thing. But he looked terrified at the rubble.
"Oh, shit. Oh, shit." He said.
Jack looked up at the building opposite him and saw Spawn standing in an opening, still hidden by shadows. Gareb and Bobby quickly got out the way of whatever was about to happen. Jack slowly moved away from the rubble, but watched closely.
"I trusted you with my life...a hundred times." He said. "We were partners, Jess, brothers."
Chains shot from the opening and wrapped around Chapel's neck and torso. The soldier struggled with them as Spawn lifted him off the ground, strangling him as he did.
"Come on, Jess. Work the scenario...Just like the old days."
Chapel was then thrown into a pile of trash, knocking some wind out of him. Then, Spawn's cape wrapped around his whole head, cutting off his air. Jack could hear him gasping and choking.
"Show me why you did it!" Spawn commanded.
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Al was doing routine surveillance on the the training facility, an exercise to keep his skills sharp. He was observing the facility through the lens of a camera. Suddenly, a hand obscured his view.
"You take off the lens cap?" A voice said.
Al saw a younger, black man, roughly his size standing over him, wearing the same trainee uniform he wore. He must've been new, since his hair was still buzzed close. Al's was as well, but he had been around long enough to be allowed to don his recognizable red bandanna over his head.
"Wynn sent me to find you?" He said. "Said you were gonna be my 'albatross'."
"I think he called it, partner." Al responded.
"So, you're the one who took a bullet for a Liberal. I guess that's dedication, alright."
"The President's a President." He replied.
"Is that right? In covert ops, maybe not always."
He walked away, chuckling to himself.
"What's so funny?" Al asked.
"I'm here because I killed the fuckin' assassin, ya'know, the one you let get way."
He started laughing again, much louder this time, almost mockingly.
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Spawn slammed Chapel's shrouded head into a brick wall with his cape. When he released him, he began coughing blood and choking to get air back into his lungs.
"You were the only one I let in. I trusted you."
Spawn grabbed Chapel by the top of his hand and punched him dead in the face, sending him into another pile of trash.
"Why, Jess? Why?!"
Chapel collected himself to give Spawn his answer.
""You stupid son of a bitch." He said as he grabbed a sharp piece of scrap metal that was as big as a machete. "You were always the target."
He began gripping the metal so hard, he was cutting into his own hand.
"From the day we met, my job was to whack you when the time came."
Chapel cried out as he began slashing at Spawn's torso, from shoulder to naval, ripping him open with the large piece of jagged metal. But Spawn stood perfectly still as Chapel cut deep into him. And with every gash and slash, Jack saw glowing, green ooze bleed from Spawn's body. It was bright enough to light the alleys with it's color and the sight of it filled Jack with horror. He really wasn't human at all, was he? Chapel kept on cutting until he was too worn out to continue. Spawn didn't so much as flinch. He didn't feel a thing. Instead, he grabbed Chapel by the hand that held the metal and gripped it hard enough to push it into his palm. Chapel had to forcefully pull it from his hand and when he did, he saw the white of his bones.
"Who gave the order?!" Spawn yelled. "Who was it?!"
"It was Wynn!" Chapel yelled back. "He gave me the order...But I wanted to do it."
"Wynn." Spawn said as if surprised.
Chapel managed a weak chuckle.
"I guess, I won. I won." He said.
Spawn responded to him by grabbing his good hand and forcing it back to Chapel's chest. The soldier yelled in pain. Jack figured that he was probably close to breaking it. Spawn then brought his claw to his mask. Jack was not prepared for what he saw next.
Spawn ripped his mask away, showing Chapel and Jack what he was. Chapel was left speechless while Jack was left horrified. He was dead. He was a corpse. His face was was burnt and decomposed, his teeth and gums exposed.
"Know me." He said.
Spawn then forcefully brought Chapel's hand to his face.
"Jesus Christ." Chapel said in fear.
As he brought his hand closer, Chapel tried to pull it back.
"No! You're Not Him!" He yelled.
His fingers were pushed against Spawn's decaying face. The tips sunk right into the flesh. Maggots began crawling out of his face and onto Chapel's fingers.
"Touch it. It's real. Feel it. You made it."
Chapel screamed bloody horror one after the other, loud enough for every vagrant to hear.
"No, you can't be alive." Chapel said.
Spawn pushed Chapel's his hand away, letting his mask form over his face.
"I'm not, Jess."
He then held Chapel up off the ground, his arms over his head. Spawn's other claw began to claw the same color as his eyes.
"You took everything from me." He said.
Spawn grabbed Chapel by the face, the glow growing brighter. Jack didn't know what he was doing, nor did he want to know. It was fear that was holding Jackson in place, terror that kept him from running.
In the grip of Spawn's claw, Chapel saw images of a younger Al Simmons, exchanging wedding bands with Wanda Blake, who he had made a widow when he killed Al. He saw the bands inscribed with the words "Al and Wanda Forever". He saw a birthday where Al had gotten Wanda a small puppy, the moment they sealed their union with a kiss. He knew what Al was doing. He was showing Chapel what he had taken from him.
Spawn dropped Chapel, only to grab him again and place another spell on him. Chapel then saw himself holding the flamethrower, setting his partner on fire and watching him burn to death. He felt the heat of the flames, the burning of his own flesh, the struggle to breath for life. He felt the confusion, the fear of death, the betrayal of a brother. He saw Al crawling forward towards a pair of boots in front of him.
"Hey, you gonna have to speak up, Al, if you wanna be heard." He heard his own voice say.
Then he felt the flames eat what remained of him as he saw himself standing among the fire. His painted skull had taken a demonic appearance and he heard the sounds of twisted, high pitch laughter. The skull then changed into the sight of some kind of demonic clown laughing his ass off at him. This is what Al saw before he died, what he felt. This is what Chapel had done to him.
Chapel was released and was brought back to the present by the sounds of his own heavy breathing.
"Oh, God. Simmons." He said.
His left eye was as brown as the day he was born, but his right eye was now as white as a corpse, pupil and iris. Chapel could still see out of it, but he knew that something was wrong. He didn't care. He picked up his rifle, which was within his reach. He began cynically chuckling again and shoved the barrel into his mouth. But when he pulled the trigger, all he heard was a click.
"Kill me. Kill me! Finish it!...There's no comin' back." He pleaded.
But Spawn wasn't going to let him off the hook that easy. His mercy had died with Al Simmons.
"No...I'm gonna let you live...Longer than you want to."
Chapel was now beaten.
"No." He sobbed. "No."
He got up to leave the alleys only to trip over himself.
"You can't do this to me." He began.
As he got back up and walked out of the alleys, he began rambling like a madman.
"I killed him. I killed him-he-came-back from the dead no one can come back from the dead no one can come back but...he did..."
Jack watched as the broken soldier disappeared from the alleys. His whole world had been shifted. Jack had met aliens, gotten stuck in the shadowzone with an undead Decepticon, gotten chased through the woods by a species hunting spider...None of it could've have prepared him for this. What he had just witnessed, no man would believe him. He had no idea who Spawn, or Al Simmons, really was. And in truth, he didn't want to...not anymore. He should've just stayed away. He should've never come back to these alleys. Even though he was still grateful to Spawn for saving him, he saw a darkness in him the likes of which he had never seen before.
Spawn turned his attention to Jackson, taking notice of him for the first time since Chapel showed up.
"I told you, kid, there's nothing here for someone like you. All there is...is death and blood."
Jack didn't know what to say, but he understood. From the moment he stepped into these alleys, he felt something dark. It didn't come from Spawn, it came from the alleys themselves. Spawn wasn't trying to hurt him, he was trying to warn him. It was like Gareb said, bad things happen here.
"Go home, Jackson, and never come here again."
Jackson watched as Spawn disappeared into darkness above him. He saw that the moon was finally able to send some light down into the alleys, but Spawn was nowhere to be found. Jackson looked at his phone and realized that he had been gone for two hours. Everyone was going to be furious with him when he got home, but he didn't care. He just wanted to get out of these alley's and never see this place again. So, he left. He didn't even spare a single glance back at this corner of darkness hidden in Rat City.
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Jack stepped out from the alleys and into the outside world. Even Rat City seemed brighter than where he'd just come from. But it had also started raining, so Jack put his hood up. He took a deep breath, bracing himself for what would come of calling Ratchet to bridge him back. But as he was about to send the call, he heard someone talking to himself next to him. He looked to his side and was shocked to see Jess Chapel, barely sitting up against the wall. He looked even worse outside of the alleys. The rain was washing away the skull on his face, showing all the bruises and cuts given to him by Spawn. He was missing some teeth, blood still coming from his mouth and head. His right eye, which was now white for some reason, was moving around frantically on its own. Jack could see that whatever Spawn had done to him, it was causing him to lose his mind.
For some reason, Jack felt pity for this man. If what he had heard from Spawn was true and Chapel had really done all the things he said, on top of what he had done to Amos and all the people he killed tonight, Chapel deserved to die. But whatever this was, Jack didn't feel he deserved it, to be trapped in some nightmare that Spawn had put him in. Against his better judgement, his own thoughts telling him not to, Jack approached Chapel and knelt in front of him. The moment he did, Chapel took notice instantly.
He stared at Jackson desperately, as if trying to figure out what he was. Jack didn't even know what he thought he could do. The guy probably didn't even know where he was right now. Jack's mere presence seemed to make Chapel more afraid. But then he grabbed him. Jacked pulled back in reaction, ready to panic and scream for help.
"Help me." Chapel pleaded. "Please, make them stop."
Jack could see the desperateness in his one good eye.
"I-I don't know what..."
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry...Tell them, I'm sorry. Tell them that I..." He was sobbing now, rambling and not making any sense.
Just over an hour ago, this man was holding an alley hostage and interrogating a homeless person by nearly beating him to death. Now, he was begging Jack to tell someone he didn't know that he was sorry.
"Please...You're good...Don't let them take me."
Jack wanted to help this man, even after everything he'd done. He knew that's what Optimus would do. But he didn't what he could do. How do you undo a spell of madness?
"Jackson."
Jack turned around to see an ambulance behind him, Ratchet. He had come looking for him to take him home. He looked back at the terrified Chapel and decided that there was nothing he could do.
"I have to go now." Jack said.
Chapel tried to keep Jack from leaving.
"No, don't leave."
"I'm sorry."
"Please, don't leave me." He cried. "Don't leave me with them. Don't leave me with them."
"I'm sorry." Jack said in sadness.
"Don't...Don't, please." He called as Jack got into the ambulance.
Ratchet drove away with Jack, leaving Chapel alone with his demons. As they drove off, the same clown from earlier was watching from across the street. Only, he wasn't looking as thrilled as before.
"I don't like that kid." He said to himself. "Somethin' ain't right about the little do-gooder."
Clown looked at Chapel, who was beginning to descend back into madness.
"You saw somethin' too, didn't you, killer?" He said. "Hm...The boss needs to hear about this. Kid could be a problem for our side."
As Ratchet drove to the nearest point of isolation for a bridge, Jack settled in his seat as everything he had just witnessed set in. He found out that the hero from his youth was some kind of undead and vengeful entity that had a lot of hatred in his heart, if he even had a heart in that decaying body of his. He witnessed the death of at least five innocent people and the torture of a sixth. He also witnessed a stone killer be broken down and driven insane by pure horror and that same stone killer reduced to a pleading child, begging Jack for his help, which Jack could not provide. To say that Jack was frustrated would be an understatement.
"I told you, fifteen minutes, Jack?" Ratchet scolded.
"I know...I'm sorry." Jack said without any protest.
"And who was that man were talking to? He looked like a crazy person."
"He was just...He was just some homeless man, Ratchet."
It wasn't as if Jack could tell him everything that happened and he would believe him.
"Jack, you realize that Arcee has most likely returned and will want to know where you've been. You're probably in a lot of trouble."
"I don't care, Ratchet. I really don't care." Jack said stressfully.
Ratchet had taken notice to Jack's whole demeanor. He could see that something was bothering him.
"Jack, are you alright?"
A few tears had fallen from Jack's face. Everything was beginning to get to him. A seat belt came down and secured him comfortingly.
"Tell me what happened?"
"I don't wanna talk about it, Ratchet."
And he really didn't. He had no idea what he had gotten himself into in those alleys. All he wanted was to thank the "Sad Man". Now, he had another memory that was going to haunt him forever and the knowledge of a man who would slowly be driven insane that he could not help. It didn't matter to Jack that he probably didn't deserve his help. The man deserved to at least be put out of his misery, but Jack knew that no one would. He knew it was going to keep in up at night, among other things.
"Jack." Ratchet softly called in concern.
"I just wanna go home."
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Chapel was still in front of the alleys, seeing things that weren't there.
'Why Jess?' He heard Al's voice say. 'Why?!'
"they keep coming back." He muttered. "i killed them, i killed...Look, they're coming back."
Every other sentence, incomplete as they were, was separated by cries and sobs. He saw people passing him by, not giving a damn about what what wrong with him, he kept hearing a woman's voice echoing in his head, repeating something he couldn't understand. Not that it mattered.
"I can't kill them! They keep coming back!"
He began hearing that laughter again, drowning out the woman's voice. But that was being accompanied by more voices, all saying things he couldn't hear well.
"I kill them, but they come back."
His left eye saw the people walk over him, but his right saw the living corpses of every person he had ever killed.
"They keep coming back." He kept saying. "They won't stay dead."
He saw every insurgent he had killed in combat, every punk who had started fights with him that they couldn't finish outside of bars, every fleeing civilian, men, woman, children, and elderly he had shot in the back indiscriminately and without care, every child soldier who took up arms against him and Al, even though he knew that they were being forced to, every democratically elected foreign official he had assassinated on orders from his higher ups, every fellow field agent his superiors told them needed to be liquidated, every life he had taken from the first assassin who Al let escape after he tried to kill the President. He kept hearing the voices of all of them, telling Chapel that they were coming back for him. He heard Al's voice, telling him that he would die for him. And that damned laughter, it just wouldn't stop.
All of their faces were seen perfectly, just as he remembered them, just as he left them. It was if they were right in front of him. And they were all cast in flames, burning like the flesh of Al Simmons. They were all burning in hell that he had sent them to...and they wanted to take him with him. They wanted him to feel their suffering.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
But he was screaming at nothing. Everything he was seeing was all in his head, put there by the Hellspawn.
7:9:8:1
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Yeesh, that was a dark chapter.
So, I was working on the next chapter of Old Nightmare and decided to bang this one out for the hell of it. I finished it in pretty much one night since it was really just a recap of the season 2 premier of the series, which just so happens to be my favorite episode.
So basically, Jack witnessed Spawn confronting the man who killed him and learning why he was betrayed. Now, Jack knows that Spawn isn't human at all, he isn't alive. Of course, he had no idea what a Hellspawn actually is or how they are created, but he knows the name Al Simmons and now he knows that he's dead but still walking around. Needless to say, Jack is horrified to find all this out. He's also become jaded by what happened in the alleys. His image of Spawn protecting him has been tainted by the actions of an unforgiving being of death. Now, I know it seems stupid that he would feel sorry for Jess Chapel after everything he had seen him do, but I feel like Jack would have preferred that Spawn killed him and got it over with instead of destroying of his mind. Jackson is an honorary Prime after all. Now that he's going back home, he's processing a lot of what he had just saw and it's a bit overwhelming for him. The next chapter may feel like one of the more angstier chapters of Old Nightmare, but I promise that the story won't stay that way. This story will go to some dark places, though. We're talking about Spawn here.
Even though this was pretty much retelling what happened in Season 2 of Spawn, I really liked writing it out. Chapel was always one of my favorite Image characters and I was disappointed that this was the last time we really saw him in the series. I do intend to bring him back, broken mind and all. I wanted to capture the dialogue from the episode as accurate as I could. If you haven't watched the series, I would at least recommend watching the season 2 premier because it is intense. Keith David is scary to listen to and the guy playing Chapel really sells the horror he's put through.
I made some changes to one of the flashbacks. In the original episode, when Chapel kills a child solider, he and Al were in some South American country as the kid was begging for his life in Spanish. But, I wasn't sure which conflict/war it was or what year it happened. With the year I set this in, I think Al would've been alive in the nineties, which was a time when a few things were happening in Africa. So I changed it to Uganda during the ADF insurgency. I know that the U.S. wasn't involved in that conflict and Al and Chapel would have no reason to be there. But for those who aren't familiar with the comic, they both worked under a government official who was a huge war profiteer. It would make sense that he would send a pair of black agents into East Africa to fan some fires and even start a few thsemselves.
StraightedgeWingZero: I know that Spawn saved Cyan because she's Wanda's daughter, but he wasn't going to tell Jack that. He just wanted to get Jack out of those alleys as quickly as possible so he lied to make himself seem like someone he wouldn't want to be around.
Also, Clown has taken notice to Jack Darby. Cogliostro said in the last chapter that he has a light in him that would attract the intention of both Heaven and Hell. And by the way Chapel was begging for his help, he may have seen that light too. Clown, however, seems to view Jack as a potential threat and is going to Malebolgia with this information to find out what he should do about it. Doesn't seem like this dark world is done with Jack yet.
So, here's to another chapter. I wish I could work on these more often, but I gotta stay focused on Old Nightmare and A Shard of Glass. But every so often, I'll come back to his. I really hope you enjoyed the read. Leave comments and reviews and I'll see you all next time.