Batman vs The 6 6 6

Chapter 5: Salem's Witch

The year was 1666. June 5th. Agitha Williams had just lost her trial and was convicted of being a witch in Dublin, Ireland. She was then led back to her cage of imprisonment and was sentenced to be hung the very next day at the break of dawn. She was only sixteen years old.

(More than 300 years ago, prior to Agitha's conviction, a "witchcraft craze" rippled through Europe. Many practicing Christians, and those of other religions, had a strong belief that the Devil could give certain people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. By the year 1666 the fear of witchcraft was nearing its peak phase. Unfortunately for Agitha, it wouldn't be until nearly 27 years later in May of 1693 that the courts would finally disallow spectral evidence as proof of a crime. But…she didn't have years, she only had a few hours before her fate was sealed.)

Agitha sat in her cage watching the sun go down for the last time. She cried out at times, claiming she wasn't guilty of being a witch, but nobody was willing to listen.

(On April 20th Agitha had managed to evade her rapist's grasp and tell the Dublin authorities about him. Her rapist admitted to his actions, but in doing so, he claimed that Agitha managed to get away by using witchcraft. Due to the man's large physical appearance and Agitha's small frame, the authorities checked into the possibilities that she could in fact be a witch. After authorities found a cookbook, mistaken for a book of magic potions, they presented the evidence to the courts and soon Agitha was put on trial. Despite her attempts at proving that the book was actually just a cookbook made up of old family recipes, the courts felt that certain words that were used in the book were actually secret code words for magical spells and potions. Her rapist only spent one night in jail because he was a relative of one of the judges, yet she was sentenced to her death.)


Hours had passed and soon the sun would come up. Village folk began to gather in the middle of the town's square where the hangman's gallow was placed. And then, at the sixth hour, on the sixth day of the sixth month, Agitha was brought before the people of Dublin to be hanged. The executioner put a dark bag over her head, tied her hands behind her back, and then placed a noose around her neck.

"I'm INNOCENT!" She bellowed, praying for someone to believe her, but even if some people did believe she was innocent, they certainly wouldn't want to speak up because they could be accused of sympathizing with a witch, or worse, be accused of being a witch themselves, and in turn be harshly punished by the courts.

The executioner walked over towards the lever that would release the hangman's trap below Agitha's feet. He then pulled it, causing Agitha's body to fall through. Agitha closed her eyes and prepared herself for certain death.

Suddenly, just before the rope could snap her neck, time completely stopped. She wasn't sure of what was going on. Somehow the rope never pulled tight and she also wasn't dead yet. She was suspended in the air.

"HELLO!? IS ANYBODY THERE!?" She yelled out through the shroud that was covering her head.

Nobody answered. It was almost as if everyone in the town's square had disappeared. However they hadn't disappeared, they were just frozen in time and she was the only one that wasn't. She didn't know that because she couldn't see through the shroud that was still placed over her head.

Suddenly she could hear a man's voice. However, the voice wasn't coming from the crowd, instead the voice was coming from inside her head.

"Agitha Williams, you were found guilty of using witchcraft and punished to death. Yet you possess none of the powers that a true witch would possess. What if I could give you the powers that you are accused of having and help set you free from this hangman's rope?"

"How!? Who are you!?"

"I am Beelzebub!" He announced. "I can help you, but first you will have to do something for me."

"Beelzebub?... Satan?" She fretted. "What is it that you want me to do?"

"You must sell me your soul by taking the life of your abuser." He replied. "And then you will be given great powers and you will be able to set yourself free of this contraption."

"No! I would rather die before I give you my soul! If you are real, then that means heaven is also real! Let the rope snap my neck!" She piped up.

"Ah… Yes… You are correct." He retorted. "But… will there be a heaven for the unborn child that you are carrying inside you?"

"Unborn child? I'm not pregnant!"

"Think about it. You haven't had your monthly cycle for nearly a month and a half now. You know what this means. If you die, so does your unborn child!" The Devil exclaimed.

"NO! IT CAN'T BE TRUE!" She cried. But, she had a feeling that the voice inside her head wasn't lying because she had missed her last monthly cycle and she had also been feeling more nauseous as of late. She figured the nauseous feelings were because of all the stress she went through during the trial. The father of the child must be the man that raped her.

Because she wasn't certain of whether or not her unborn child would go to heaven she decided to accept the Devil's offer.

Just then, time was unfrozen and the rope pulled tight. Agitha hung still. The executioner pronounced her dead and lowered her down to the ground. He then pulled off the noose. Her eyes were still closed when he pulled off the shroud.

"The witch is DEAD!" The executioner turned and announced to the crowd.

Just then, Agitha's eyes opened up wide and she sat straight up. She looked around at everyone near her. She tilted her head to the side and then snapped her neck back into place. Her hands were still tied behind her back, but she easily broke free of the restraints.

The crowd gasped. The executioner was in shock.

Agitha then sprung up from off the ground and quickly climbed back up the rope she was just hanged from.

The crowd couldn't believe their eyes. She was able to move so quickly.

Agitha stood on the platform and scoped out the crowd. Standing towards the back of the crowd was her abuser. He looked directly into her eyes and could tell by her expression she was wanting revenge. He turned around and took off running.

Agitha leapt from off of the platform, soaring over the entire crowd in a single bound. Within seconds she had caught up to her abuser and knocked him to the ground with one swipe of her hand.

He couldn't believe her uncanny strength.

She turned him over and pinned him to the ground. "It is time to pay for your sins!" She declared, raising her hands in the air.

Her fingers on her right hand then began forming long razor-like claws. She knew she had to kill him in order for her child to live.

OR DID SHE?

She was already alive and she had the powers of a witch. The Devil said that she would sell her soul after killing her abuser. Just then she looked around. That's when she saw the Devil standing in the crowd. His eyes were ravenous and he was rubbing his palms together with anticipation. He couldn't wait for her to sink the razors into her abuser's skull.

Agitha's hand was tensed up ready to strike, but suddenly her hand went limp. "I won't do it!" She declared.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" The devil bellowed. "YOU MUST KILL HIM!"

Suddenly Agitha began feeling very dizzy and the Earth began to spin rapidly until there was nothing but darkness all around her.

"THIS ISN'T OVER YET! I WILL HAVE YOUR SOUL!" The Devil proclaimed.

Agitha passed out.


When Agitha woke up she found herself on a ship in the middle of the ocean. She wasn't sure how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was being in the town's square. Then, she looked down and felt her stomach. She knew her unborn child was safe at the moment. She then found a crew member and asked them where they were.

"We are on a ship, heading for the new land, my lady."

"New land?" She asked, not sure of what he meant.

"America! A place called Salem Village! It is in one of the northeastern colonies of Massachusetts Bay. Several of our people have made it their new home. I hear It is the GREAT LAND OF OPPORTUNITY!"

"America…hmm. A new start is exactly what I need." Agitha declared. "What WE need." She whispered, looking down at her stomach.


December 31, 1666, nearly nine months later…

"AH!" Agitha cried out in pain. She was giving birth. Despite her pain she was happy this day was here because she would finally get to meet her child. But, to her surprise, she wasn't just having one child, she was in fact having triplets. The three boys were born six minutes before the stroke of Midnight, before the dawn of a new year.


For the next six years Agitha and her boys were doing well. She had gained employment at a local tavern in the village. She would go to work after her son's had fallen asleep. She received several tips from the local patrons that frequented the tavern because she knew how to use her witch's persuasion to influence them. Most of them were easy to manipulate.

One night, moments after Agitha showed up for work, a man yelled out for a drink. From the sound of his voice she could tell he had already had a few drinks before she showed up. When she turned around to face him, she was startled to find out that it was her rapist, and the children's father. He must have traveled across the pond and somehow ended up in Salem.

She quickly turned back around, hoping he didn't recognize her, but there would be no such luck.

"You're… You're… You're the WITCH OF DUBLIN!" He exclaimed.

Agitha then used her witch's power to change her appearance. She changed it to look like another waitress that wasn't due to begin working for a couple more hours.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" She said as she turned around to face him again.

He had to shake his head and do a double take. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else."

She may have fooled him, but another man who was standing near the two of them saw how she somehow managed to shape-shift. "She's a witch!" The man blurted out. "I just watched her face change before my very eyes!"

Several of the other patrons started looking at her. They were curious as to what all the commotion was about. Agitha quickly excused herself and exited through the back of the tavern. Just after she left, the woman that she had taken the form of showed up for work, earlier than what Agitha expected. The patrons were amazed at how fast the waitress was able enter through the front tavern doors after she had just gone out the back. Plus she had miraculously changed clothes. The man that had just accused Agitha of being a witch decided to run out the back. When he did, he saw Agitha quickly wandering off.

"She is a witch! The witch is getting away!"

Other patrons ran to the door and spotted Agitha as she hurried off. "It's true!" Others started spouting. "She is a witch!"

"I know where she lives!" One of the other patrons proclaimed.

Many people had tried putting the witchcraft nonsense behind them after leaving Europe, but the paranoia still existed in a few villagers. AND, those villagers chose to grab their pitchforks and torches and then they marched towards her home.

Agitha quickly made it back to her home and woke up the boys. She told them to hurry up and get ready because they had to leave. When she looked out the window she could see the torches getting closer. She left out the back door and headed towards a large wheat field. She was hoping to take cover in the field while trying to make her way towards the harbor. She figured she could find a boat for the four of them to stow away on.

But, before they could get out of the wheat field, several villagers had surrounded it. Now aware of Agitha's witchcraft, rather than going into the field after her, instead they decided it would be best to set the field on fire and try to smoke her out.

The plan worked. Several minutes later Agitha stepped out of the wheat field with her three sons, all of them coughing from inhaling the smoke. The villagers slowly surrounded the four of them in a circle.

Agitha knew she was outnumbered. She then bent down on her knees in a praying position. "Please! Please spare my children!" She begged. "I will do anything you want!"

The villagers slowly approached them. "We will allow your children to live, but you must pay for your crimes."

Then, one of the villagers tried grabbing one of her son's arms, but her son wasn't going so easily, and he bit the villager as hard as he could, causing the man's hand to start bleeding.

"They are all witches!" The man cried out. "This boy nearly took my hand off!"

Then, the unthinkable happened when the man pulled out a butcher knife and began brutally stabbing the boy several times in his chest and stomach. "Die witch!"

"NOOOOOOO!" Agitha cried, knocking the man down.

Most of the villagers were stunned. They weren't prepared to kill her children. They were merely caught up in the hysteria. However, a few of the men were still willing to follow through with it, especially Agitha's abuser from years ago. He knew the boys were his children and he didn't want to have children with a witch. While Agitha was holding her son that had just been stabbed, her abuser grabbed a torch and lit one of her other sons on fire. Agitha tried to stop him, but the villagers grabbed a hold of her and held her back. The boy tried rolling on the ground, but the flames were too much and they finally consumed him as he perished right before their eyes.

Agitha's witching powers had diminished over the last few years. She certainly didn't have the uncanny strength that she had when she was first given the powers, but her anger brought some of the strength back out of her. She then broke free of the villager's grasp by flinging them several feet through the air. The other villagers stepped back.

"We must end this tonight!" Her abuser declared.

The villagers then slowly tried to re-approach Agitha and her only son that was left alive. Agitha quickly picked up the torch that was used to set her son on fire and she began waving it around, trying to keep the villagers back.

She looked down at her son. "You must run. You must make it to the harbor." She tried to whisper.

The boy didn't want to leave her side.

"Please, son. You must go. I cannot hold them off for much longer. I will meet you at the harbor."

The boy heard her plea. He then took off running between a gap of villagers and headed towards the harbor. A couple of the villagers gave chase.

The boy did manage to make it to the edge of the harbor, but there was nowhere else for him to go. The men that had given chase caught up to him. Despite not knowing how to swim, Instead of allowing the men to capture him, he jumped into the cold water. The men stood and watched as the boy flailed his arms about trying to stay afloat. Soon the arms stopped flailing. Soon after that the boy's body was completely under water. And, within a couple more minutes, even the air bubbles stop showing up at the surface.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Agitha dove over the side of the harbor and into the cold water trying to save her son. She had managed to escape the mob of villagers at the edge of the wheat field and had gone to the harbor to meet up with her only son still alive. Unfortunately, after retrieving the body from below the water, she realized her son was dead. All three were dead. She held her son in her arms as she continued treading water.

Agitha didn't want to live anymore.

Soon all the villagers gathered near the harbor, watching her as she tried to stay afloat, crying while holding her drowned son.

Agitha decided to stop treading the water and allowed her body to slowly sink into the cold harbor. As she sank further away from the surface of the water she could see a blurred image of the angry mob of villagers watching from afar.

Suddenly, just before everything went dark, time had completely stopped.

A man's voice spoke up. "Agitha Williams, it is time for you to sell me your soul."

"Beelzebub?" Agitha asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"I've been waiting for this moment for the last six years!" He exclaimed. "Ever since you defied me of our agreement during our previous encounter." .

"I told you I wouldn't give you my soul! Now, allow me to sink to the bottom so that I can be with my sons!"

"I'm willing to make you an offer. What if I told you that I could bring your sons back?"

"IMPOSSIBLE!" She bellowed. "One was stabbed to death, another was burned to death, and the other drowned. There is no coming back from that!"

"Ah, but you know I have many gifts. I CAN bring them back! AND, in exchange, you will honor our previous agreement."

Agitha remained silent.

"All you have to do is take the life of your abuser and I will bring your sons back."

Agitha remained silent. But then she looked up at the angry mob of villagers, where she spotted her abuser amongst them.

"None of this would have happened if it wasn't for your abuser." The Devil reminded her. "He is the one that declared you a witch. After that, it only took a little paranoia to push the rest of the villagers over the edge. Do they deserve your sympathy? Wouldn't you say that you and your sons deserve to live longer than those ilk?" He asked, cleverly trying to persuade her. "I could give you eternal life. All that they can offer you is pain and death."

Agitha knew exactly what the Devil was trying to do, but he also made a good point. Why do they get to live, but she and her sons don't?

Agitha decided to finally honor her agreement.

Within seconds of the agreement, time was unfrozen and Agitha managed to float back towards the surface of the water.

One of the villagers could see her as she was getting closer. "Something is happening! The witch is floating back up!"

"That's what dead bodies do!" Another man piped up.

Finally, Agitha's body had resurfaced. It simply floated in the harbor.

"See! I told you!" The man bragged.

Suddenly, Agitha's head turned 180 degrees, staring up at the villagers. She then slowly rose up from out of the water and began walking across the surface, just as Jesus did. The villagers couldn't believe their eyes.

Agitha and her abuser locked eyes. He knew what was about to happen next so he started running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

Agitha began floating up into the air, high above the mob. She then spotted her abuser running away. In a flash- SWOOSH! She flew towards him and pounced down upon him. Her hand rose in the air, long razor claws grew from out of her fingertips. Just as she was about to go for the kill, she looked over at the crowd of villagers and saw the Devil salivating, rubbing his hands together with anticipation. This time she didn't hold back. She wanted her sons to live forever. She then plunged her razor sharp claws into her abuser's chest and proceeded to rip out his heart.

Just then, Agitha began to get very dizzy. The whole world was spinning rapidly.

"Ha Ha! YOU'RE SOUL IS MINE NOW!" The Devil declared. "I will honor my agreement. The four of you will live forever! Agitha, you will be my cenobite and your three sons will be my minions! You will live in pain until THAT pain becomes pleasure. Then you will have to inflict pain upon others so that you can maintain that pleasure. AND, one day, you and your sons will reunite, and we shall rule the world!"


Her son's souls did walk the earth once more, but he didn't say they would return to their own bodies.