DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman. Only Athena and characters such as Sage, or whoever I add to this narrative.

Eight:

And, Misery Loves Company

Claws ripped into the black, cursed skin. It tore through her with as much mercy as she had showed that human in the stalls. A pained shriek left her, a sound mixed with that of Athena and a wretched beast slain by the hunter.

One of her eyes snapped open, while the other remained a blank void, taking no shape at all. A bellow reached a far block, as Malice grit her teeth, black liquid resembling ink began to drip from her mouth. The once levitated state she had been in, interrupted, now standing in her world of wan. A pain in her core, it had begun to subside, as if the sword had been pulled from its target, the black blood licked clean from the blade, yet she still stood.

The humans, they walked down the street like sheep being herded by an unknown shephard. Yielding such worthless happiness with that laughter, creating a sense of importance for themselves as they tapped away on cellular devices, as if they were something more than cows awaiting to be slaughtered. They walked around her, passed her, through her.

Nostrils flaring, her head took a crooked position, glowering at a car racing past, as if the driver had some sort of importance.

How dare the girl? How dare she do this to her? Was this a form of karma she wished to inflict upon her after she had kills those worthless humans? If it were not for her, they possibly could have lived. The girl had to exist.

Her fingers curled into a claw, she pulled them together, a quick motion. The vehicle seemed to slow, while the one behind it quickened. Tires screeched, as the vehicle behind attempted his best to slow down, before crashing into the other. Both spinning out of control, one came right for her.

Malice held a blank expression on the side of her face that could, staring into the thick grey.

The vehicle, threw itself at her, yet, she did not move, there she stood as the machine crashed into the glass window behind her.

Humans gathered, the dreaded sirens of police cars growing closer, far off the scene, someone remarked about a superman.

Somewhere not a soul was aware of her presence. Here, she was the voice of a guardian angel, uttering forewarnings. Here, she was a devil, tempting them to do no good. Here, in this plane, everything belonged to her. All at the tip of her fingers, all she had to do was will it. A small place between the realm of mortals and the ethereal, somewhere far, for her and only her. A place of power, but filled with damnation. For, how could a palace become her prison?

She breathed. Death had always been the creator of misery, and malice bore death, a double edged sword for some mortals, those who did not have the mettle. And, so she would feed on those spheres of despair, black with a demon's touch, black, like the hands of a mother, who's murdered her own child.

Opening her mouth, her tongue slithered out, scraping against fangs, flicking left and right in search of an innocent, little wisp, until it wrapped around the frigid sphere, herding it back to the open jaws of its master. Malice swallowed, allowing it to digest, nearly refilling her empty veins with what kept her alive.

"Now see," her eyes squinted, words in a drawl, "look at what you've done, child."

The remnants of the aching stomach, would not let her forget this set back, for it was not over. The ache began in the center, it's roots growing to her chest and downwards. Throwing her body backwards, she howled until the wretched cycle had ended. The seed still planted in her core, to unleash its roots again.

This was not meant to occur. With every ache the seed caused, her tight grip on power had been lost. With all the progression made, she was drawn back to when she was nothing but an insignificant fly, feasting on maggots. Where she had no control, where she was worthless. When she was not a Goddess.

Malice put a hand over the place where a navel should be, where it would soon be. It was a warm sensation, one she was fond of. Her hands and half of her face, had been the only parts of her body that were not cold, numb-dead. Before the love of warmth was overridden by sickening agony, lifting up the hand not resting on her core, a slice through the air tore into the grey world.

It led to a black place, and nothing but. For once, this girl's mind was blank, quiet. A mind that could be molded. Taking a stride forward, holding out a hand, a twinge reminded her to avoid avarice, made her drop the hand.

Within the darkness, a beam of light shone into a single space.

"Awaken, mortal."

There Athena sat, restrained to an object which blended with the darkness of the her own mind, the restraints which held her, a dark crimson.

Bending down, Malice took Athena's chin with her fingers, moving her flimsy head up to face her. The girl's eyes closed, her eyebrows and corners of her mouth were far from a peaceful slumber.

Magnificent.

"I said," Malice drew out her words, lips forming into a snarl, "awaken, you pathetic little girl!"

Black spittle landed in the human's eyes, as they opened. Malice snatched her fingers away, standing, for when she stood, there was nothing greater than her.

A wave of panic crashed through the human's body, as she thrashed her legs around and tugged at the crimson restraints, Athena shook violently, not baring to look at her.

Malice smirked, tilting her head. "Do not bother. This is my domain now, and you have no place here."
The girl stopped shaking around, her breaths came and went in quick succession, she stared downwards, appearing to have fallen unconscious. Malice was nearly about to wake her again, when her head flashed upwards, eyes Wildstorm .

"Don't touch me," Athena growled, baring teeth similar to her own fangs.

Really, the girl's intimidating appearance sent chills down her dead spine.

A dark chuckle echoed throughout the mortal's mind, bouncing off its walls and falling on irritated ears. "I'll do with you as I please, child." Malice lifted her chin, showing fangs sharper than Athena's, her tone took a devilish turn, "especially after what you have done."

The ant took another tug at the restraints, her nostrils flaring, as she glared back at her with angry blue eyes. What she would do to have them, at last.

"Maaaaallllliiice!" Drawing out the letters in her name, she let out a roar of pure anger.

Malice touched her chest, where a beating heart should have been. The very fury that coursed through the girl was astonishing, she truly had broken the broken, bringing about a deadly sin only second to pride itself.

"I am, as they say, quite touched." Malice smiled. She abhorred her smile, with the way it twisted and turned, her lips half brown and half black matter. "You've the audacity to not only wake me, but, threaten me as well?"

The pain in her core began to fade, but it was not enough. Not nearly. Malice bent down, once more, taking a deep inhalation, as close to her face as she could possibly be. Her words came in a coo. "You dare? You dare, thwart a Goddess?"

Athena moved back as much as she did, her essence leaked out of her pores. Closing her eyes, Malice moved back, running her tongue across her lips, quick and hungry.

"What," the girl paused, through teeth gritted against stone, "are you talking about?"

Stroking a hand through Athena's hair, to which she flinched away, Malice continued to stroke. "Why, you, child. As pitiful filth, you might be… you have a task to complete. One task, and you very well know what that is."

She shook her head, slow. Spitting the words, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Malice blew air into her face, halting the stroking of her head at once, to dig fingers into her scalp, grabbing a fistfull of hair to yank backwards. "Oh," she said, into the child's ear, "but she does." Malice leaned back. "And since you choose to be so very foolish and ignore her, let me enlighten you."

The pain inflicted on the girl's scalp had not been efficient, for she continued staring back at her. Those eyes of pure persistence against all odds, her nose pinched and lips in a deep frown. A faint redness crossed her tanned skin, of the anger boiling inside.

A smile crept upon the lips of Malice. "Let me help you fathom, child." With the hand not grasping her hair, she thrust forward, her claws sinking into the fragile skin of a human.

As the girl threw her head backwards, the impact against the pole rang throughout the mind, vibrating the space they took up. The clench in her jaw, satisfying in the way it fought to hold back her cry, spit flying as she exhaled a deep breath, attempting to hold in the sweet, sweet pain.

Malice's smile grew deeper, along with the claws intruding into the girl's abdomen, faintly, she too, felt the claws seeping into her. The sensation was not nearly on the same caliber as the pain the girl had caused. Exploring the insides of the human, filled with all the soft things she was not. She moved achingly, steady, a movement that toyed with her prey, that told them 'you are nothing more than flesh.'

The human threw open her mouth, then, releasing the most glorious scream, one that contained every nightmare she had ever endured. Writhing around, her own nails dug into her the skin on her hands, all the movement ultimately causing more pain when she herself moved a claw into something meaty, vital.

"Do you not understand," Malice began in a whisper, then taking a dark, twisted shriek, "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine, as well!" She leaned in closer, "you are not to tamper with my vitality, girl."

Trembling now, as her body was surely trying to withstand all of the pain that it was enduring, all of the pain it had to comprehend. With a shaky breath, her skin had gone pale with death, her eyes, they still contained a vigor that she herself so desperately pined after. "God…" the girl's voice brittle, with as much weight as sand, one eye squinted shut as she struggled to look at Malice. "You're such a s-sorry person," there were quick breaths as blood dripped out of her mouth, she had gathered all the strength one possibly could, "and, you… will never get what you want, you will never be… me."

Showing a sharp tooth, from the shape of contempt her lips had formed, Malice brought her fingers together inside of the girl, a warmth rested in her palm. Pulling out, forced another scream, her voice raising to an octave higher. It sent sweet chills down her spine.

"That comes later, but, for now, I have retrieved entirely what I wanted."

Letting her fingers fall, she flicked her hand, the blood and guts flying elsewhere. The darkness of the mortal's mind had begun to lift, and that is when she left her, a gaping hole in her abdomen. Through the teared portal, she went, the pain in her core gone, and for suitable amount of time.

R&R, at your leisure!