[FATR: I had so much fun writing this chapter! I hope you have as much fun reading it. I don't own Batman. I don't own anything accept the Underwoods, really. Let's have three cheers for mass destruction before we continue on our way! /cheers, cheers, cheers/ ]
That evening was just like any other for the Underwood family. Larry and his son Jacob were playing with Batman action figures in the livingroom. Larry was Mr. Freeze and Jacob was, of course, Batman. Why the young boy seemed to prefer Batman to Spider-Man was a mystery to Larry.
Jessica, his wife, was in the kitchen washing the dinner plates when she received the inkling that something was going to happen. She had known of her husband's troubles for some time now. She was aware that Kingpin's men had visited the day before, but their coming had gone unheralded. This was different. Jessica put the last dish in the drying rack and proceeded calmly to the living room. "Larry, dear, can you help me put the dishes away?"
"Sure." Larry stood up and followed his wife into the kitchen.
"He's sending more people," she whispered. "But it's worse this time."
"Worse?" Larry's eyes widened. "Worse how?"
"I don't know, but we have to get out of here."
"He'll just track us down. You take Jacob and go, I'll stay here and... explain, or something."
"That won't work."
"I made my grave, I'll lie in it."
Jessica stomped her foot and hissed, "Goddammit, don't try to be heroic. We're out of it now. We can leave all of this behind us if-"
"We can't run forever. I'll take care of it. You just watch out for yourself and Jacob."
"They can't hurt me as easily as they could hurt you. If anyone of us is going to stay and straighten things out, it will be me."
"It's not you they want."
"We don't have time to debate this! They'll be here any moment!"
:o) (o:
The obsidian van glided down the street, perfectly camouflaged by the deep shadows. The neighborhood was shit, but that was to be expected based on the information in the folder. Quinton strained his eyes to see the street numbers. "We're almost there."
The woman knows we're coming. Otto was in the very back where his arms had all the room they needed. Well, almost all the room they needed. Mac glared at one of them and swatted it with his tail. The tentacle hissed and snapped for Mac's face. "Relax, my pets. The fun will begin shortly."
Quinton decided to cloak the van. The street was desolate and there was no danger of any other cars running into them. He kept his ears and eyes peeled anyway.
"Oo! Oo!" Max jumped up and leaned between the front seats. "Squirrel! Squirrel!"
"Would you si-" Quinton stopped as control of the car was wrenched from him. The squirrel never saw it coming. The passengers hardly felt anything. There was a little furry rodent, and then there was a little furry puddle. Control returned to Quinton and Max sat back, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Still the master," Max beamed. The smile was knocked off his face as a green tail and a silver arm simultaneously connected with the back of his head.
"Focus yah dumbass," Mac growled.
Otto wondered what to do about the wife, Jessica. She wasn't a Nasarian, but there was something about her that drew him in. He still had his doubts that 'magick' actually worked. He'd yet to see it with his own two eyes. Her healing powers, however astounding they were, had turned out to be the result of something biological. The van door slid open and he stepped out. Perhaps I can call that little pearl the Magick Gene.
Max knocked on the door. "Little pigs, little pigs, let us come in!" There was no answer.
"No' by the hair on yah chinny chin chin?" Mac called, starting to feel Max's giddy energy. "Then we'll huff, and we'll puff, and-"
Otto's tentacles whipped forwards, tired of waiting. "Bust your door in," Otto finished, stepping through the gap. He surveyed the room. The lights were off, and their target was sitting in a chair with his back to the door.
The loud crash had sent him into a spasm of shivers. He fought to control them before he spoke. "I knew you would come eventually." Larry struggled to keep his voice level. "Maybe we could all sit down and talk. You see, I had the-"
"We were not sent to talk." Quinton almost laughed. Was this guy kidding? "Come quietly and we won't hurt you... much."
Larry sighed, fondling the gun in his lap. "I'm sorry you feel that way." He leaped up, spun around, and pulled the trigger, intending merely to frighten the visitors. It was Larry, however, who received the fright. As for the bullet, it was barely a task for the tentacles to deflect it.
"Offensive action on his part merits offensive action of an equal or greater force on our part." Otto glowered at Larry. His pets rose behind him, making sounds like angry rattle snakes.
"Leave i' tah me." Mac sprang into the air. The gun fired again but Mac dodged and continued across the ceiling at arachnoid speed. The tail struck down, causing Larry to drop the gun, but also completely removing the his hand. For a moment Larry seemed too paralyzed by shock to do anything but stand there.
"Shocking, isn't it?" Max cackled. Electricity arched out of his body in every direction, obliterating just about all the appliances and lights in the house. This seemed to shake Larry out of his daze because he screamed and hightailed it for the kitchen, clutching his arm to his chest.
Otto, however, did not care for this little man. Before everything had exploded, there had been a burst of light and sound. Just under all this noise he had perceived a duet of shrieks upstairs. He knew it was the woman and the child, even though the noise had died with the explosion. While the others were distracted with Larry, Otto grabbed the upstairs railing with his tentacles and hoisted himself up. They lowered his feet soundlessly to the carpet and he moved down the hall. He knew what room they were in and made straight for it, fighting the temptation of some pointless vandalism. There would be time for that. Maybe, if Mac hadn't fucked it up by cutting off that guy's hand. Though Otto had to admit he had enjoyed watching that display. There was light under the door. I thought Max blew all of the power. Otto placed his hand on the knob, turned, and pushed.
:o) (o:
Larry glanced behind him as the swinging door swished shut. As he turned back around, the man he knew as Mysterio materialized out of a puff of smoke. Larry ran into him and fell backwards on the debris littered floor. The helmet cast an eerie glow over the entire kitchen, bright enough for one to see the damage but not quite bright enough to illuminate the dark corners. In fact, it only served to twist and distort the already distorted shadows even more.
:o) (o:
Otto's eyes grew wide at what was behind the door. The woman was sitting in a circle of white candles, clutching the boy to her chest. Her eye were closed and she was muttering something rapidly under her breath. The boy's face was buried in her chest so he hadn't noticed the unnatural octopus in the doorway, either. The pair was surrounded by a column of undulating blue light that stretched from floor to ceiling. It looked a lot like water. The expression of wonder melted into one of hunger. It was real, and he would take it, and make it his.
Jessica could feel eyes upon her. She gasped and gazed up at the figure in the doorway, trembling. The blue light reflected in his glasses, the glowing circles the only thing she could see under the brim of his hat. There was a sick smile on his face, almost a leer. For a second she thought he was planning to rape her.
"I have no desire for such carnal pleasures," Otto half assured, half scoffed. He stepped into the room, reaching out with his bionic arms.
Jessica sat frozen as the red eyes stretched towards her, only inches from her shield. Her heart thundered and her breath quickened. Throwing up one hand she wildly exclaimed, "In the name of the water goddess, you shall not pass!" The metal snakes whipped back, hissing, as the column flashed brightly. The man looked taken aback then amused.
"I am the water goddess," the same voice that had visited Max giggled, only this time it came out of Otto.
Jessica cowered before him as a dark cloud grew behind him. The blue light faded, the room with it, and it was just them. Them and the dark. "What... Ana?" The man's face became very calm. One black gloved hand came up and slid off the glasses.
:o) (o:
Quinton could see himself in his glasses. The white light reflected in the tear tracks on Larry's face. The super villain, empowered by this, loomed threateningly. "Going somewhere?"
"I-I..." Larry stammered, shielding his eyes with his remaining hand as he tried to see the man's face through the bubble. "Th-the gun was a... s-sorry, I w-was just..."
"Scared." Max sauntered into the kitchen, followed by Mac. Larry was now surrounded. "As well you should be."
Larry winced as he noticed Mac's tail was still dripping his blood. "I'll... I'll go calmly, but I need... medical attention..."
"'M sure doc would take a look a' tha' for yah," Mac teased. None of them, however, were by any means ready to pack up and go home.
:o) (o:
The golden eyes seemed to glow yellow in the shadow of his hat. He snarled and the manmade monsters whipped forward.
:o) (o:
A puzzled look wrinkled Larry's brow. There had been four, hadn't there? Where was Dr. Octopus?
Boom! wrplwrplwrpl...
SCREEEE...
"Ah!"
WhmphShhhhhhhhhh...
:o) (o:
There was a sound like a sonic boom and the wall rippled at their initial impact, the sound echoing. As the claws tore into the bubble they screeched as if experiencing some kind of feed back. Jacob screamed. The wall burst in a shower and soaked the entire room. The candles fizzled out and they were plunged into darkness.
:o) (o:
Everyone in the kitchen looked up in unison. "Jessica... Jacob..." Larry murmured and leaped to his feet. Electro barely poked him with his index finger but it was enough to throw the man backwards against Mysterio. Mysterio caught him, levitated him, and threw him towards the kitchen door. Scorpion opened the kitchen door just in time and Larry landed essentially unharmed on the couch. Unharmed except for the excessive blood loss. Dimly he could see Electro leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed.
"That's gone on just about long enough," Max commented to Mac in the kitchen behind him, indicating the blood still gushing from Larry's wrist.
Quinton levitated Max out of the way and came out of the kitchen with an armload of dish rags. He tied one as tight as possible around Larry's upper arm to form a temporary tourniquet. He threw the rest at Larry with half hearted instructions to keep pressure on the wound. "After all, if you die, Kingpin will have our hides." There was a loud crash upstairs.
:o) (o:
Otto was dragging Jessica down the hall by her hair and Jacob by the scruff of his neck. Both mother and child were dripping and shivering. The tentacles shot out in four different directions, indiscriminately grasping whatever they found first, and pulled. Shelves, furniture, an entire wall, were instantly decimated. The meditation exercises had worked better than he could have dreamed. "They grow up so fast, don't they, dear?"
He sounded exactly like a proud father watching his son's football game. Jessica would have laughed but the situation was far from amusing.
The tentacles went out again but one paused and returned clutching a book gently in its 'jaws.' The others, on a silent cue from their brother, went to investigate.
"I see," Otto responded to some unknown statement made by the discoverer. "But why would she have books on that subject?" Jessica grew pale as the black holes that were his eyes turned on her. "You're not just some little wiccan, are you?"
The other tentacles returned but only one had a book. It did, however, take two of them to stabilize it as it was too thick for one to get its pincers properly around.
Otto smiled without showing his teeth, an expression laced with sarcastic amicability. He let the woman go and gave her a light shove towards the stairs. "Get a move on." Cradling the books in one arm, his other hand still occupied with the boy, he plunged the tentacles into both walls at the end of the hallway and dragged them forwards, crunching through plaster and wall supports.
The woman's flight down the stairs was accompanied by all kinds of noise as half of the second floor caved in. Otto descended the stairs calmly, with the kicking, screaming boy under one arm and the books under the other. The super villains on the first floor had apparently used the waiting time to decimate the livingroom.
Jessica screamed when she saw Larry and flew to his side. He gazed blankly at her, eyes glazed, barely conscious. Just before she reached him, a claw clamped around her waist and plucked her into the air. "Let me go, bastard! I have to help him! He needs a doctor!"
"I'm a doctor." At Otto's words she began beating on the thing constricting her waist with all her might. He only tightened it. Otto surveyed the others. Max was kneeling over the action figures on the floor, but he was looking at Otto, waiting for direction. "She is right, though. Let's get him back."
Max scooped up the action figures, practically the only things in the house not vandalized in some way, and followed the others out to the car. Quinton and Mac were carrying/dragging the injured man. There were police sirens in the distance and Max thanked their lucky stars for Quinton's powers. They all piled into the van, Mac up front this time, and literally faded away into the night, with the half dead man sprawled across the back seat. The only sounds in the van were Jacob's sniffles and the little clicking noise of the action figures as Max made them fight.
:o) (o:
Unbeknownst to them and the approaching police cars, as soon as the van had disappeared a solitary white figure had drifted into the wreckage of the house. She wore an ankle length white, silk dress with sleeves down to her wrists and collar half way up her neck. Her hair was so blond it was almost white, and the figure under the dress was nothing to gawk at, but still pretty. Her real beauty radiated from her silvery eyes. She wore no adornments in her hair or on her ears, only a delicate silver chain with a simple silver pentacle dangling from it.
Emma's steps were so soft it was as if she weren't there at all. Perhaps she wasn't, really. Standing in the livingroom she winced to see the blood and mindless destruction that was often in her sister's wake. She didn't need to go upstairs to know that Otto had taken Jessica's books. Emma glided to the stairs and gazed up into the ravenous gloom at the top. The darkness and rubble yielded nothing, but this was where her sister had last revealed herself. "Ana?" She called fearlessly into the gloom. "Here I am. You can kill me if you must, but don't bring in more innocents." There was no answer. There wasn't ever going to be an answer.
[FATR: Wee! Fun, yah? BTW, if anyone knows the name of the ghost lady from , I would like to know it for profile related reasons. Damn hurricane Frances, ruining my labor day weekend. I had plans and everything. All well, if it doesn't do anything too serious to the power I can use the time to work on this story.]