Condemnation
Chapter two:
"A hell spawn?" Carlos looked into the branches above, where his guardian was perched.
"More like hell's pawn, if you consider how they are mere puppets to the lords of the underworld." Kashaku shook his head, "Poor creatures, so desperate to have their desires fulfilled, that they will agree to anything without a second thought."
"Sounds a lot like 'Faust'," the Mexican teen observed, "and there's some similarity with myself, except I'd never let anyone order me around. Tell me, what makes Spawn so special?"
"They are combatants in life, so terribly fierce that hell sees them as potential soldiers. I shall illustrate with the story of a warrior woman. She was an incredible fighter, unparalleled in the field of battle, and like many, it was there that she met her final day, ushered by a spear through her heart. Now, this woman had a six-year-old son, to whom her final thoughts and prayers were sent. The demon lords grabbed her and exploited those feelings in order to become her owners."
"Let me guess, her wish was to go back to her child, and as payment, she gave her soul."
"Not only her soul," Kashaku answered, "but her service as well, for hellspawn agree to become the commanders of Hell's army."
"That's explains the interest in military life," Carlos realized. "Was she sent back? One thing I'm sure of is that devils are masters of deceit, making sure they get the most profit in every deal, while the buyer gets nothing but peanuts."
"Very true, and yes, trickery is a part of this tale. The woman was returned to Earth, twenty years later, when her son was full grown and independent."
"Chingada, that's playing dirty!" Carlos exclaimed, "And that was it? She saw her kid then got pulled back into Hades?"
"Not right away, hellspawn stay on Earth for some time, with little memory of their life and no knowledge of what they are. Choice bits of information are given, the ones that will cause most pain. This slow process destroys their mind and soul."
"And their will," the undead teen concluded, "going through all that will make them so afraid of making choices, that they'll obey any order without hesitation." He paced around then looked up, "The worst part is, that kid's just another one of the bunch."
"Indeed. There was something different in this one, however," Kashaku noted.
"How so?"
"He seemed to have no knowledge of his abilities, at all. Hellspawn are ignorant, but they're supposed to be able to use their powers instinctively."
"Maybe it's part of the plan, something else to make him feel even more helpless."
"Or dangerous," Kashaku pointed out, "You know from experience how destructive desperation can be."
"Let me tell you something else I know." There was certainty in Carlos' voice. "This is one spawn who won't join the devil's ranks, 'cause I'm gonna do something about it."
"Caw! Out of the question!" The black bird flapped his wings violently. "Do you know how protective demons are of their possession? Your interference will have severe consequences."
"Have you forgotten? I'm stronger than ordinary crows."
"I haven't, but-"
"I stayed here in order to stop suffering before it happens; not only is this kid in for a whole truckload of it, so is everyone around him." The dark-eyed teen looked towards the sky and chuckled, "Besides, sparring with a couple of demons sounds like a lot of fun."
Saint Isabel High school:
"Señor Aguirre!"
"Qué!?" Juan raised his head with a start and saw his teacher, giving him a disapproving glare, along with a few muffled chuckles coming from his classmates.
"Had a big party last night? I agree with having a fun, it's very healthy, but not when you forget about acting responsively."
"Perdón, señor," the brown-haired boy apologized, "it won't happen again."
"I should hope so." The bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and everyone rushed outside. Juan was held back by his teacher. "Aguirre, do me a favor and get some rest once you reach home. Afterwards, make an appointment with your doctor, you seem much too fatigued."
"I will, professor, gracias."
Enrique and Rosa were waiting for their friend at the bus stop.
"I tried to wake you up," the blonde boy said, "But every time I nudged you, you just groaned, quite loudly in fact." He scratched the back of his head. "Come to think about it, you wouldn't have been caught had I left you alone."
"Aren't you brilliant?" the tanned girl mocked, "And what did you do this weekend that tired you out so much?" Friday night, when she found Juan nearly unconscious, Rosa took him home as kept him company for a while. As a result, the pink-haired girl got home much too late and was punished by her parents. Now, she felt that Juan owed her something.
"Honestly, I stayed home the whole time and slept, except when I had chores to do." The bus arrived and they climbed in. "Apparently, all the rest I got had no effect."
"Hmm, maybe you're coming down with something," the blonde boy said, "something you ate perhaps."
"Nah, Juan's too picky," Rosa replied, "one little green dot and-Ouch!!"
"What is it?"
"Uh, nothing, the guy who pushed past me just rubbed his elbow against my back." She sat down. "Anyhow, you have a point, Quique, it might be an illness, or the result from doing something unusual." The tanned girl emphasized this last word, sending her enfeebled friend a menacing gaze her. It didn't go unnoticed.
"I'll try to jog my memory," Juan huffed, "I'm gonna take a snooze, wake me when we get to our stop."
Several blocks away, at a heavily transited avenue, Vinnie was keeping an eye out for the very bus the teenagers were riding. He'd been waiting all morning, and had just about run out of patience.
"Good thing Van's taking care of the crow, had he been here, he would've jumped the gun and ruined everything," the skinny man said to himself. He heard a horn and looked up. "Finally! Do these guys even look at the time?" The green-haired man rubbed his hands eagerly. "Time for a little domino-effect." He muttered some cryptic words and gestured towards a sports car. Vinnie wasn't sure whether this trick would have the desired effect on the spawn, he was only certain about the tremendous accident that would come out as a result. To be even more honest, he was more interested in all the fun destruction he was about to cause.
The people in the blue sports car panicked when it didn't slow down. They crashed into the vehicle up front, which hit the next two, then the one to the left, and so on. And that car was not the only one with damaged brakes! Just as the skinny man had planned, the bus was caught right in the middle.
"Hold on, Rosa!" Enrique yelled.
"KYAA!!" The large vehicle wasn't exactly speeding, but it was going fast enough to flip over and slide several yards. "Juan! Are you okay down there?" The pink-haired girl and blonde boy managed to hold on from the handles and stay on top, but the brown-haired one was at the bottom with several others.
"S, I'm okay. Try to climb out through the window," he ordered as he tried to push his way outside, "I'll catch up with you later."
"Right," Quique responded. Struggling, he managed to reach and open the emergency exit. "Up you go, girl."
"Gracias." Rosa climbed outside and helped her friend. "Coño, look at this mess! This is gonna be in all the newscasts."
"We can keep it from growing into a bigger problem," the buzz-cut boy replied as he hopped down, "I'm gonna call an ambulance, you go somewhere safe and stay put."
"I'm going to help in any way I can."
"I said stay put," Quique repeated authoritatively, "If you don't know what to do, then stay out of the way and leave everything to the experts."
"But I-"
"No buts, Rosa, do as I say." The pink-haired girl grumbled as her friend left.
"Stay out of the way, yeah right, only a worthless loser would do such a thing." She got down and headed towards the nearest wounded person. Rosa wasn't a trained professional, but the one thing she really hated was indifference. The tanned girl got to a crashed motorcycle and appraised the situation. "Okay, your leg's trapped, so let's try picking up the bike." Rosa used all of her strength but obtained no results, except hurting the rider a little more.
"YAAHH! Idiot, get out of here if you don't know what to do!"
"Take it easy on her, she's only trying to help." Rosa looked up, it was a boy about her age, with long, dark hair and sunglasses. He picked up the motorcycle and moved it away with relative ease. "There we go, now, stay with him and make sure he doesn't move."
"No, I…I think I'll go over there as Quique said, so I won't screw up anymore."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Carlos told her, "you were trying to help."
"Easy for you to say, you're strong!" Rosa snapped, "Why don't you-why didn't Quique just tell me that I'm weak and useless? At least you'd have the decency of being honest!" She bolted out of there before the undead boy could reply.
"Hmm, that was weird, I should talk to her later on."
Back at the bus, Juan had to be careful, lots of people were severely hurt, and there was no way of getting around them. I'm running a big risk here, he thought, but we need an escape route. The short-haired boy summoned part of his suit, the glove to be precise, which was fit with sharp claws. A long, unnoticed slice tore the roof open, through which he came out first in order to lead the others.
"Thank you, son," an elderly man wheezed, "That must've been quite a crash in order to-Dios!"
"Qué?" Juan looked at his hand and saw that the living costume had covered most of his arm. "Uh, it must be an oil stain. I better go clean it up." The brown haired boy escaped through the wreckage and hid inside a closed shop. "Coño, this damn thing is getting harder to control each day. First it starts acting crazy, then it keeps me exhausted, and now it-" In the middle of these musings, he noticed a very important detail, he wasn't tired anymore. Juan thought about it and came to the conclusion that it was because of the adrenaline rush. I am one stupid tío, I've been doing it all wrong. Sleep won't do me any good, I have to look for even more excitement! Juan looked at his hands then closed his fists tightly. "This goes beyond recovery, I feel even stronger than before! If I figure it out correctly then…then…" Something went wrong all of a sudden, a sickening sensation hit his stomach then crawled all over him. He felt loss, desperation, fear and painful agony. It was too overwhelming for Juan and he fainted. The suit began to recede, but suddenly grew spiky whips that hissed like angered serpents.
"Down, boy," the green-haired man commanded, "Behave yourself, and daddy will give you a nice treat." Vinnie knelt next to the boy and got to work. "Nice going, Van, you were supposed to keep an eye on the crow."
"Give me a break," the tattooed man replied, "Do you have any idea how well these guys can hide? It was a stroke of luck that he turned up here."
"Please, couldn't you come up with a lamer excuse?" Vinnie growled as he got up." At least the parasite won't lose control if it goes near the crow again, not for a while. And this idea of mine should lead him straight to us."
"A crumpled note in his pocket." Van slapped his forehead. "That has to be the stupidest plan you've ever come up with."
"I know his type, a cryptic message of mysterious origin will be irresistible."
"Who's in here?" a dark voice called. The two brothers fumbled clumsily and went out of sight. From their hiding spot, they saw Carlos come in, ready to draw out his katana.
"I know I felt something here, and it wasn't human," he told his guardian telepathically.
"It was hard to ignore," Kashaku responded, "Someone went clumsy and let his cloak drop, leaving a very large trace."
"Well, whoever it was, he's going to regret it." The Mexican teen was about to run his hand over his face when he took notice of Juan lying on the floor. At that moment, Enrique and Rosa came into the store.
"Juan, tío, are you in here?" the blonde boy called.
"There he is!" Rosa exclaimed, "And you!"
"Is he a friend of yours? He was like this when I got here."
"S, thanks for finding him." Quique checked on his friend. "He seems okay, better get him into one of the ambulances though."
"No need," Juan replied groggily, "I'm fine." He looked around through squinting eyes. "And you are?"
"The name's Carlos, I assume you're Juan."
"That's right, and these are my friends, Rosa and Quique."
"Glad to meet you," Enrique greeted; the tanned girl was still in a sour mood.
"We better get going," Rosa suggested, "it's gonna take forever to get home and our parents must be sick with worry."
"Why don't you call them?" the brown-haired boy asked.
"'Cause the phone's out of order, stupid."
"No problem, we'll just ask my dad to go over to your house," Quique offered.
"No! Uh… I don't want to be a bother, umm, let's just go, okay?" Everyone shrugged and went outside, where they separated. Carlos paused and Kashaku landed on his shoulder.
"I recognized his voice, he's Spawn."
"So he is," the black bird agreed, "But, it's too strange, this is not as they're supposed to…"
"Supposed to what?"
"I shall explain later. It could be just as you suspect, a trick to further diminish his sanity." Kashaku glanced at the store, then again at the three teenagers. "Who will you follow, Warrior?"
"Juan, he's our target, and I believe the one we felt has an interest in him as well." He couldn't help but shiver as he said this, that presence had been very negative, almost as bad as Poe's.
Van and Vinnie had been watching from the roof.
"That was close," the bald one said.
"And we know who's to blame for that. Well, get to work, you have to follow that guy."
"I know that, you don't have to remind me. Just make sure you don't screw up when you talk to the kid, he's our main assignment, the one we can't afford to fail at."
It took plenty of time for the three friends to catch a cab, so getting to their neighborhood took them nearly half an hour. Juan hurried towards his house and opened the door.
"Uh, mom? I'm home."
"Juan!" His mother bolted out of the living-room and gave him a vice-like hug. "Why didn't you call me? What the hell do you carry that phone card for?"
"Perdón, perdón, I tried to, but my credit was worn out." The short-haired boy grinned apologetically. "I didn't mean to worry you so much, mam."
"Well, you're safe and that's all that matters," the wavy-haired woman replied as she shook her head, "I swear you're going to be the death of me. Come inside, lunch is on the table." The brown-haired boy grinned back and complied, he noticed a couple of suitcases in the hallway.
"Another business trip?"
"S, publicity agent/widow is not a good combination. And this time I'll be gone for a whole week. Perdón, I really hate doing this to you."
"Mam, it's okay, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of both myself and the house. Besides, this is character building experience, right?"
"(chuckle) I don't know where you get all that courage." They sat at the table and chatted as he ate. "My manager says I'm next in line for a promotion; soon, these trips will be a thing of the past."
"I'm looking forward to that." Juan didn't bear any ill will towards his mother, although he did feel a little guilty about her having to work so hard for his sake. I swear, mamá, I'll make it up to you, somehow.
A block away, Rosa was about to receive a completely different welcome.
So far, so good, she thought as she crept inside, maybe that slob made himself a sandwich and went to sleep.
"Where the hell were you?" a menacing voice asked.
"Ack, pap! I was-"
"Stop stuttering like an idiot and answer me!" the man demanded, "I told you time and again to come straight home from school."
"I was in the middle of a traffic accident! Had you bothered to watch the news then you'd know about it!" Her father's response was to shove and slam her hard against the wall.
"Don't you dare use that tone against me, young lady! I work hard in order to support this family, and I deserve respect." Rosa was too frightened to respond, and was slapped because of this. "Do you understand?"
"Sí, señor."
"Good, now go to your room and don't come out until I say you can." The pink-haired girl obeyed, trying hard not to weep. She caught a glimpse of her mother as she passed by the kitchen.
"Is that you, Rosa?"
"S."
"You know how your father is, you could avoid his anger if you'd just acted responsibly." The hurt girl made a fist and ran into her room, she was about to slam the door but held herself at the last moment, that brute was likely to react negatively, ram it open and punish her even further.
"I swear, as soon as I'm old enough I'm forsaking this damn place." She sat at her desk and pulled up a picture. "Juan, you lucky bastard, hurry up and get me out of here."
Karasu no shi had followed Juan to his home, then returned at nightfall in order to wait for him to come out again, as Spawn.
"Two o'clock in the morning," the undead warrior huffed, "It would be a lot faster, and less boring, if you'd let me go inside."
"Invading homes is a very threatening approach, which is useful when stalking enemies," Kashaku replied,"Do not forget, on this occasion we are trying to bring aid. Better results will be gotten if we wait for the hellspawn."
"If he comes out at all," Karasu said, "he hasn't done so for two nights straight." He laid down and crossed his arms behind his back. "Any chance he quit the hero business?"
"Hellspawn are not allowed to resign, and those who insist are severely punished." The bird looked down and flapped his wings. "Caw. Attention, he's leaving now."
"I see him, let's go." The warrior recast the silent shadow, then he and his guardian followed the dark-clad being. "He seems to be in a hurry. Can he detect us?"
"I don't think so, he's much too inexperienced."
"Huh, it's about time you mentioned something in our advantage. Qué chingada!?" The dark-eyed teen came to a screeching halt, all of a sudden he felt that presence again, only much stronger. "This wiseguy wants us to find him," Karasu growled as he made a fist, "All right, he wants me, I'm coming."
"Warrior wait! What about…? Urgh." Kashaku weighed his options. "I will continue following our original target, one of us must remain on the right path. I shall simply inform the warrior in due time."
It didn't take long for Karasu to find Van.
"You're quick," the large man said in a joking tone.
"Well it was hard not to notice you," the pale one retorted, "What did you have for dinner, cabbage rolls with bean filling?"
"That was breakfast." Van steeled himself, just as he'd said before, crows aren't quite adept at reasoning, but he couldn't think of anything else. "Let's cut to the chase, I am a demon, and I'm here to talk to you about the spawn."
" Duh, I knew that already. Well, my answer should be just as obvious, I'm not letting you have him."
"Look, I don't know what this Aguirre kid did to you in life, frankly, I don't care. What I do know, is that he is now wearing our uniform, which puts him in our league and out of yours."
"Then I'm going into your league," the undead hero replied in a threatening tone, "I chose to stay so I could stop creeps such as you, so if you want me out, use fists and not words."
"Perhaps I will," the tattooed man chuckled, "You said you chose to stay. Does this mean your original target was already taken care of?"
"It's none of your business, but yeah." Van's smile went wider and he punched Karasu so hard that the wall behind was cracked.
"There's a rule that says we can't lay a finger you mimes, valid only during your mission," the disguised demon explained, "Since you're on your own now, anything goes."
"Guess I should've kept my mouth shut." Karasu rose and sized up his foe. "But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." He counterattacked with a barrage of punches and kicks, hitting his opponent on the face, chest and stomach at least fifteen times. "I can tell you're wearing a disguise, drop it and get serious."
"One thing's for sure," the large man chuckled, "You're a very stupid kid." A monstrous transformation began; pink flesh was torn open by purple hide, bones twisted, muscles stretched and teeth grew into frightening fangs. Karasu no shi was this close to running away in terror, right in front of him there stood a large, brutish-looking beast; a thick horn grew out of his back, hunching him over so much that his head grew forward out of his chest; there were sharp talons on his hands and feet, with disgusting hairs coming out of the bases; and his fiery-red eyes reflected eagerness for violence. "Round one," the Vandalizer announced with a snarl.
