Ahh, much better. It's so nice to return to form. This chapter was so much easier to write. I still paced myself but I let myself go a little further just to satisfy that part that wants to keep going. Hopefully I can keep delivering on quality.
Tackling this thing from different perspectives has been interesting. I'm trying my hardest to not repeat anyone just yet. I wanna get a little more people before we return to people we've heard already.
I do not own Worm or Ben Ten and never will.
X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X
Brockton Bay
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
6:35 AM EST
(Four Hours After Chimera's Rampage)
Tired brown eyes watched the giant screen tv as a pretty lady in a red business suit reported from the cockpit of the news chopper.
The words 'Aftermath of New Villain Chimera's Rampage' drifted lazily across the screen.
'And as the sun rises on the bay, we are able to see the full scale of the destruction…'
The camera pans out to the side, showcasing shattered streets and crumbled buildings.
'...fires continue to burn in multiple areas along the northern end of the city, first responders are stretched thin in their attempts to put out the remaining fires and rescue civilians…'
Her mother's arm tightens around her shoulders and pulls her closer.
'The number of people injured expected to be in the hundreds at least…'
'Chances that more than 500 people are hurt?'She thought.
98.765%
Her stomach tightened.
'Chances that more than 500 people are dead?'
99.859%
She clenched her jaw as her lips started to wobble and her eyes began to burn with accumulating tears.
She snuck a glance at her mom's face and noticed she seemed just as distraught as she was feeling. And was also trying to conceal it as well. She focused back on the tv.
'...have yet to make any comments on the possible whereabouts of Chimera. But we are all but certain he has escaped.'
'Chances that he's still in the cit-'
She flinched as a sharp pain stabbed into her temple, interrupting her line of thought. She had been steadily asking questions all night and it seems she's reached her limit for a while.
"Headaches again?"Her mother asked upon noticing her flinch.
"Mhm."She nodded.
"Being up for so long can't be helping those. Go back to bed love, I doubt schools will be open, so feel free to sleep for a while ok?"
"Ok,"She muttered tiredly. They exchanged kisses and she slowly got up to stagger back to her room. Reaching the stairs she turned one last glance back to the tv and stopped when she saw the news reporters face. Eyes wide with disbelief and shock, she seemed to have gotten a tad bit paler.
She was holding her fingers to her ear, apparently receiving news from her comm. And the news didn't seem good.
'Yes...okay.'She gulped and turned back towards the camera.
'The studio has just received word from trusted News 10 sources, that Assault and Dauntless of the Protectorate and Lady Photon of New Wave...have unfortunately died due to severe injuries in their fight with Chimera.'
A numb shock washed over her body and a devastated whisper of denial breezed past her lips.
'Chances that they might be alive?'
The answer, and the pain that accompanied it, were equally as agonizing.
He hunched over, hands against the alley's wall, stomach and throat clenching painfully as he expelled what little he had eaten. This went on for about a minute, but it was possibly the longest minute he could ever recall. When it was over, he felt so exhausted that he could barely keep himself upright.
"Oh God."He wheezed weakly. Tentatively pushing himself up and off the wall he took several deep breaths before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a stick of gum.
He sighed as the sharp minty flavor washed over his mouth.
"Was wondering how long it'd take you to finally lose it."
He turned to the voice of his partner Owens.
In terms of seniority, Owens had him by two years, but they worked well together. They'd both seen and been through some shit as cops in a city packed with parahuman led gangs. Settling disputes between the regular members of the ABB and E88, busting drug dens owned by the Merchants, hell, even almost getting into a few scraps with the PRT just cause they went and took cases that should've been their jurisdiction.
In his opinion, being a cop was one of the worst jobs in the city. But someone had to do it, and he'd always done his best under adversity. Plus, someone had to help look out for the little guys.
"You know me,"He responded with a tired drawl,"Stomach of steel."
"And a heart of gold yeah yeah I know."
Owens leaned against the mouth of the alley, arms crossed with a pinched expression on his face. He'd thrown up first when they got here. When offered a stick of gum, he declined saying the taste would help him focus. Whatever that meant. Frankly it just sounded gross and made him remember to stay upwind of his breath.
He walked out of the alley and saw the ambulance turn the corner to go to whichever hospital it could get to. Not that there was any rush, they just needed to drop off the body.
Another wave of nausea rippled across his stomach and he forced himself not to think too hard about the grizzly scene they discovered.
Owens however didn't want to move on just yet.
"In all my years as a cop,"Owens said after a moment of silence,"I've never seen shit like that. That thing, deliberately did that to another living being. What the absolute fuck?"
He shivered as unwanted images came to mind.
The dismembered limbs.
The torn skin.
The gigantic marks on the body that looked like a shark had literally bitten into the-
He grit his teeth and forced the thoughts to stop. He'd thrown up once already, no need to do it again so soon.
'Who'd ever think something like that could ever happen to a hero.'He thought morosely.'Wonder how New Wave'll take this.'
He hadn't noticed that Owens was still talking.
"-fit right in with the Slaughterhouse Nine, those sick fucks. Damn capes man. Wish they'd all just go away."
He released a mint scented breath. Not this again.
He liked Owens, really he did. But the man had a hate for Parahumans that could almost be called racist. If Parahumans counted as a race that is. Did they? He didn't know, and frankly he didn't care too much. If a shitty person got powers then they'd more than likely use it for shitty purposes. That's basically it for him. But they'd had that conversation enough times already. Frankly he was too tired to try to argue it right now.
"You dismissing me again?"Owens snapped.
Realizing he'd been caught not listening he put his hands up as surrender,"Sorry, sorry. I'm just tired. Been a long night ya know."
Owens deflated.
"I know man, just don't dismiss me. If I got shit to say then damn it someone outta hear it."
"I know. But it's been a long night, I need some coffee, and you need a breath mint."
"Fuck you."Owens grumbled as they walked back to their car.
"I'm serious though, look at all the world's major leading problems and its cape related.''Owens started, and he actually repressed the urge to roll his eyes."S9, Ellisburg, those three bitches in Europe. Ashface or whatever in Africa."
"Ashbeat."He corrected.
"Whatever. All I'm saying is, the world would be a better place without them. Tell me i'm wrong."
When he didn't immediately respond, Owens took that as agreement.
"That's what I thought."He smirked. This time he did roll his eyes.
Just as they were about to get in the car, Owens grabbed him by the shoulder. Looking over to him in confusion, Owens pointed ahead of them where he noticed someone limping down the street.
Owens released his shoulder, and tentatively called out,"Hey, do you need help?"
They watched as the silhouette continued to creep closer, not saying a word. Slowly, the figure was revealed under the light of a street lamp. It was a young black girl in clothes too short and too tight in some places, but those could be ignored in favor of observing the large amount of blood and dust she was covered in. He heard Owens swear under his breath as she collapsed.
The two rushed forward and knelt down to examine her.
"We need to get her to a hospital."Owens said,"Pull the car up, I don't think we can move her too much right now."
Nodding his assent, he quickly rushed back to the squad car, hopped in and drove it up next to the duo.
Together they gently laid her in the backseat, being cautious not to aggravate any injuries. All the while listening to her whimpering in pain.
"What's the nearest hospital?"Owens asked as he jumped into the driver's seat.
"We're near Clover and that swings around to Mattison, so...Mercy."He answered, already mapping out the way.
"Got it."Owens said and began to drive off. Every now and again casting a worried glance back at the girl and his face scrunched up in anger.
"Damn it, she's just a kid."Owens seethingly muttered."Goddamn capes."
"Alright, thanks a lot. Yeah yeah alright. Got it. No it's okay, we'll be alright."
"Tell him to say hi to Taylor for me."
"Lacey says hi to Taylor. Ok, we'll work it out later. Bye Danny."
He hung up, ran a hand down his face and sighed.
"What'd he say?"Lacey asked him.
He turned to his wife,"Well, we're gonna try to work something out. All the damage isn't gonna magically get sorted out on it's own. Danny's gonna see what he can do to get the mayor to give us some work."
"Well,"She says as she leans against the headboard of the bed,"If anyone can do it, Danny can."
"Yeah."He agreed.
For the moment, they just sat in the silence, letting themselves adjust and come to terms with everything that's happened. They were half-way to sleep when the explosions started, sounding pretty close to their house. When they kept going, they booked it to the basement just in case and spent the night down there. Luckily nothing happened to the house and they were able to come up to the sun starting to shine. A look at the news revealed what had been the source of all the noise.
Of all the capes Kurt had ever known about, this one took the cake. It was big, ugly, mean, downright sinister looking. One of those monster capes. People named him Chimera. What terrified him and Lacey was just how much destruction it caused. And apparently the heroes weren't able to stop it. So it just kept killing and destroying everything for most of the night.
Now, a portion of the city's in ruins, people are dead or hurt, and no one knows where the new villain even is now. He swore softly under his breath.
"Why's it always like this?"He heard Lacey say. He turned to her, his face open with curiosity.
"Why's our home always the epicenter of this shit."She grumbled."If its not the Nazi's starting shit, then it's Lung and Oni Lee, or the Merchants. Now we've got a damn miny Endbringer tearing apart entire city blocks and killing who knows how many people. Fuck!"She exclaimed. She grit her teeth and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands.
He slid up from the edge of the bed and gathered her into his arms.
Despite Lacey being as small as she was, she was arguably one of the toughest people he'd ever known. He remembered his old Pastor Earl saying that God had made her so tiny cause if she was any bigger, then she'd take over the world. He still chuckled about it every now and then. But anyone who really knew her, knew that she wore her heart on her sleeve, and was one of the most big hearted people you'd ever meet. She cared about people. And all this unnecessary death and destruction was probably getting to her.
Nothing he could say would make her feel better, so all he did was hold her, gently rubbing her back and letting her cry what few tears she would allow herself. When she finished crying he let himself speak his mind a little.
"We could move."He stated absentmindedly. Lacey brought her head up and gave him one of her infamous 'don't be a jackass' stares.
"We could."He shrugged.
"Kurt, no."Lacey stated."We have too much invested here. Friends, family, work. Anyway, where would we go?"
"I don't know, it was just a thought anyway. Didn't really have any meaning to it."
She sighed and laid her head back down on his large chest.
"I know what you mean though."She began."It's just so frustrating. For all the love we have for this place, it's like it's cursed or something. Everything always goes wrong here."
"This is our home Kurt, we were both born and raised here. I don't wanna give up on it, but it's almost like staying is becoming too much of a hassle. Like it's just not worth it."
She laughed dispassionately.
"My mother would kick my ass for saying shit like that."
"And she'd kick my ass for letting you say shit like that,"Kurt advised.
"That she would."She agreed,"But we both know you can't control me."
"Woe to anyone who tries cause that's a massacre I won't be a witness for."
"Pfft, you'd better not testify against me."She snickered.
"My ingrained survival instincts wouldn't allow me to compromise myself like that."
She laughed for real that time, and he felt a sense of pride wash over him for lifting her spirits for just a moment.
She let loose a few more chuckles before settling down. When she spoke again, her voice was subdued and quiet.
"But seriously, even if we moved, won the lottery, built a mansion, had ten thousand kids-"
"I thought you were being serious."He blinked.
"I am."She deadpanned.
"Shit."
She smacked him on his pecs and he chortled at her angry pout(not that he'd ever call it a pout to her face mind you. Survival instincts withstanding).
"As I was saying,"She snarked,"Even if we got all that-which would be absolutely amazing by the way-it wouldn't have the comforts of home. None of the other dockworkers, Michael's Bar, Fugly's, Danny!"
She pointed at him.
"We can't just leave Danny. I worry about the guy. You saw how bad he was when he lost Annette. And he almost lost Taylor that one time. Remember seeing her in the hospital like that?"
"I remember almost being escorted out when you heard someone did that to her."
"Hey, I held that girl in my arms when she was a baby. Aunt Lacey had a stake in the claim to whoever's head needed to be collected as penance."
"I get that, really I do. Still pisses me off to hear they got away with it. But you didn't need to start screaming in the hospital."He explained.
"I said I was sorry."She grumbled. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back.
"And thankfully the staff onboard was willing to forgive us. Not that I would've wanted to see them try to remove you."
She humphed and didn't respond for a moment.
"Back to what I was saying, unless someone wants to interrupt or get off track again"She said, giving him a warning glance. He mimed zipping his mouth shut.
"I like to think we're good friends to Danny. He's helped us out in tough spots and gotten us work, invited us over for dinner-"
"It's been a while since-"He cut himself off when he saw the stink eye she was giving him. He zipped his mouth again.
"He's been there for us, and we've at least tried to be there for him too. Could we have done better? Yes. Could we still do better? Hell yes. So the idea of just saying goodbye and good luck while we pack up and move away somewhere else just doesn't feel right. Leaving him and Taylor here while they're both kinda miserable...I couldn't do it. I don't want to do it. Therefore, I will not do it."
She waited for him to respond. When he didn't, she looked up at him and he pointed at his lips. Rolling her eyes she mimed unzipping his lips.
"I gotcha. And I agree. God knows we're not financially secure enough to go anywhere else anyways. So we might as well stick to what we know."
"Money isn't the point I was going for but as long as you get it."She drawled.
He nodded."I do, I got it."
"Uh-huh."She said with half lidded eyes. She looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was getting close to seven.
"I don't think I can go back to sleep."She said. Turning to her husband she smirked.
"You thinking what i'm thinking?"
His eyes traveled down her diminutive figure, clad in one of his Patriots Jerseys and tight fitting shorts. He felt his skin start to tingle. Until she flicked him squarely between the eyes.
"Not that,"She snipped."I meant breakfast. Get your damn head outta the gutters."
"Oh."He said dumbly."Right. You in the mood for anything in particular?"
"I wouldn't say no to pancakes and bacon."She said coyly. He nodded and got out of bed to start cooking. He paused in the doorway and looked back.
"Would there happen to be a chance later for…"
"Hmm, maybe. Depends on how good the pancakes are."She said softly as she teased the hem of her Jersey up just a little to show a peek at her toned stomach.
Kurt was then determined to make the best pancakes he'd ever make in his life.
He could still see smoke.
Rising softly into the sky, pillars of smoke sprouted up from the ground. Expanding out to cover the sky in depressing grey clouds. Many of them drifted across the window of the apartment and for some odd reason, he couldn't help but shiver.
He knew what monsters were like. His father was a monster. His friends and their friends were monsters. He knew the kind of evil they could commit. But this…
This was a different kind of monster all together. A different kind of evil.
The kind reserved for S-class threats. The kind where human life didn't matter. Where nothing was sacred and its only purpose was misery.
He knew what monsters were like, but this...this was worse.
But what was worse than a monster?
"Theo?"A soft voice called from behind his door.
"Yes?"He answered without turning around.
"I have a few calls to make, could you watch Aster for a few minutes please?"
"Sure."
"Thank you." He heard footsteps retreat from his room. He took a second longer to look out at the clouds of smoke one final time before turning and heading to the room across from his.
Asters nursery was prim and pretty. Like a painting one would show people for how they would want a nursery to look for a little girl. Purple and blue walls with cutesy stickers and posters plastered on them. Stuffed animals and toys neatly placed in corners. Soft, padded floors with the alphabet printed on it. And a perfectly carved crib off to the side, with a shiny carousel spinning lazily above it.
He looked down at the sleeping infant, her head tilted to the side, breathing serenely, blessedly unaware of the carnage that had befallen the city that she lived in.
'A child shouldn't have to live in a place like this.'He thought.
He watched as she started to stir and her eyes slowly started to blink open. She looked up at him with eyes so very much like her mother's and cooed quietly.
He swallowed the lump in his throat.
What was worse than a monster?
As he stared into the quiet content eyes of his little sister, he felt himself realizing that he didn't wanna know.
Yet he had the feeling that he and the city as a whole, were gonna find out nonetheless.
X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x
And another one bites the dust. Kurt and Lacey were the easiest part of this chapter. Mostly cause they're blank slates I can work with to an extent. Their presence in fics as a whole is very limited so I decided to give them some shine. It was fun. Might make them come back...or maybe i'll spare their lives...
I kid of course. Or do I?
But seriously, their scene helped to add a little levity to the situation. Seriously, this is turning out a lot darker than what I envisioned. I needed the levity more than anyone else actually.
Anyways, review and let me know what you think. Please and thank you.
Stay safe and have a good night.
-Ghost