"What?!?!" Jean Paul exclaimed, as he read the headline of the Gotham Tattler. The other people in the supermarket check-out line with him turned and gave him dirty looks. Still, he couldn't help himself when he saw it, in big bold letters:
"AZRAEL PRESUMED DEAD, ASSASSIN NOW IN CUSTODY"
What in the bloody hell is this? He thought, as he picked the "magazine" up to try to find the accompanying article inside. It was bad enough when they said I saw flaming apparitions in the sky while crawling along the rooftops, but now I'm dead?
Is it any worse than having an Angel in your head, mortal? Azrael finally piped in, a tinge of laughter in his mental voice. Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.
Hey, technically YOU are the one they say is dead. Jean Paul retorted, as he finally located the article.
Well, they got part of the facts right, Azrael replied, It is true that Batman apprehended Lehah.
For which I'm eternally grateful. The bastard did kill my father, after all. I'm just glad Batman got to him before I did, or I might have "forgotten" our promise to him to never kill again.
It would not have come to that, mortal, Azrael admonished. We have taken an oath, which we both take very, very seriously. I would not have allowed it.
Thanks for the support, Jean Paul snorted mentally in disgust. Guess I better put this thing down, before the check-out girl makes me pay for it...Somehow, that's not something I want any of my friends to find on my coffee table when they visit!
Quite correct, mortal. I cringe when I think of the Cat's reaction to you believing anything they print, anyway.
Don't think that! She'd kill us!
I sincerely doubt that. Besides, I am quite sure she would devise a torture that would be much worse than death. Azrael's mental images caused Jean Paul to cringe visibly.
"Come on buddy," said the guy behind him in line, "It can't be that bad! I won $5 from playing the lottery numbers they put in there..."
Jean Paul simply gave the man a funny look, then started placing his groceries on the conveyor. People like him are what cause unrest.
Please do not attempt to use Monty Python quotes to justify a redneck mentality, mortal. They are simply better than that.
You know, this was much easier back when I thought of you as just a computer program in my head...
*--*--*--*--*
Jean Paul's mind drifts back to Paris, nearly a year ago now. He had just barely survived destroying the Order of Saint Dumas' Ice Cathedral, and then a run-in with the man who had created him. Having accidentally killed his brother while fighting the Grey Abbot, Jean Paul had lapsed into a deep depression, which his friend Brian Bryan was attempting to draw him back out of. As they walked around the placid streets of Paris, they discussed just what it meant to have been "born" the way Jean Paul had.
"You're reading too much into this, Jean Paul," Brian had said, "It doesn't matter if you were grown in a test tube or not, you're still a human being."
"A human being who has been programmed since before birth to be a perfect killing machine," he had replied.
"Maybe so, but maybe not. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe your Azrael persona isn't just some brainwashing the Order submitted you to? That maybe, just maybe, there's truly another being sharing your soul?"
"And you call yourself a psychiatrist? I was expecting you to tell me I'm schizophrenic, not that I'm sharing my body with an angelic being!"
"I do not call myself a psychiatrist," Brian had retorted. "I call myself a recovering alcoholic. Besides, with everything I've seen and experienced in the past two months, I'm starting to believe that there MUST be something bigger out there. If only I could remember where I was before Ra's Al Ghul dumped me in that pit and brought me back to life..."
As Brian trailed off, Jean Paul began to truly consider his words. He's right, we've seen too much lately to discount any possibility. I could have sworn I heard that golden head speak to Brother Rolo, and it was supposedly the head of St. Dumas himself! So maybe I do share my soul with an Angel. Maybe it's not just "the System," maybe it's something else?
Not "something" else, Mortal, but someone!
"Who was that?" Jean Paul exlaimed aloud, startling Brian.
"Who was what?" Brian replied, giving his friend the once-over with his eyes.
"Didn't you just hear someone talking?" Jean Paul asked, hopefully.
"I didn't hear anything, Jean Paul. Why, what did you hear?"
"I was just thinking that maybe you were right, that maybe it's not the System but something else, then I heard someone say 'not something, but someone!'"
If you are going to quote me, Mortal, at least get the words correct.
"There it goes again!" Jean Paul exclaimed, then fell to the ground covering his ears.
"What, what is it?" Brian exclaimed, but Jean Paul only laid there, twitching. "Somebody help me!"
*--*--*--*--*
To Be Continued..