Age Of Carnage

Chapter 7


Darius Virbank was not having a good day at all. After all, he was currently letting Carnage take over the current situation; which was him running away from a few men. You may be wondering, why the hell is Carnage even running? Well, it's the fact they were well equipped as if they were a part of the army, except they had Flamethrowers. Supposedly details about Symbiotes were given out and one particular detail was that they were weak against fire.

Carnage made a huge leap over one building and landed on top of a roof, this was all he could do to get away from the damn pyromaniacs. Carnage receded and Darius could be seen, however, older than he was before. He was well over 20 now, about the age of 22. His face was rigid, showing off an impressive jawline, he had a freshly trimmed goatee and his hair was in a high ponytail. He wore a casual, black tank top, his arms well-toned and muscled, a pair of red baggy pants, and black combat boots.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to leave me on top of a fucking building?"

"Don't blame me sap, blame yourself for thinking you could enter a damn warehouse full of wannabe army patriots!"

"I was being covert until you and Blood decided to argue like children!" Darius' voice grew deeper over the course of 5 years, it was like he was a completely different person.

Which he was.

"Well, that's a shame, but not my problem!" Blood entered with a noncaring tone.

"I was scoping that Warehouse because my client wanted something out of there, you idiots, and he was about to pay me five grand!"

"Was he really? Oops?"

Darius's eyes wanted to pop out of their sockets in frustration. "We're going to head there tomorrow."

"You might wanna suit back up, we got company!" Blood said.

Darius tuned out everything to check what Blood was talking about and he shot around noticing that he was indeed still being pursued. Tonight was not his night at all, Darius looked at his wrist and sighed. He mentally told Carnage to let him take over, for now, to which the Symbiote complied and in mere seconds, Darius' body was covered in red. Darius Symbiote's cape billowed as he watched a group of people appear on the rooftop with him.

"We finally got you, Carnage!"

"We're not letting you run away from here, the boss wants his payback in blood!"

The people that confronted Darius all wore military garbs with fancy Flamethrowers in hand. Somehow, their boss was able to supply them with such weapons for this occasion. Darius clicked his teeth in mild annoyance as he knew he had no choice but to fight these goons off. Thankfully he was trained by a well-skilled Assassin!

Darius didn't say a word to the armed men and appeared right in front of them.

"What the-AK!"

"Cody-ERG!"

The mysterious men didn't get to help their partner as Darius chopped them both in the throat then grabbed them by the side of their head and slammed them against one another. The sound was loud and if you could listen closely, you could almost make the sound of cracking out.

"That's two," Darius said as he took a look around to see that he was now completely surrounded. "Are you sure you guys want to do this, I can get pretty crazy."

"You bastard, you think you can fight all of us? You must really be a dumbass!"

Rain began to fall, the droplets struck against his body. Everything seemed to be moving slow for Darius as he looked at almost twenty men, he wasn't scared; if this was him from years ago, then he'd be scared shitless, but here he was, fist clenched, and heart as cold as the rain that was pelting his body like a feather.

"I'm warning you all now, leave with your pride, or stay and die for your pride, your choice," Darius said as he waited for a response.

"Screw you! HEEEEYA!" One of the men threw his Flamethrower and charged recklessly at Darius, which wasn't surprising, considering these men worked for Black Mask.

That's right, The Black Mask. In the last few years, Black Mask has been trying to expand his empire, starting with somewhere that wasn't as protected. The Bronx and upper Manhattan were the perfect spots for someone like Black Mask to expand upon, however, Black Mask miscalculated. He didn't expect to get any fight back, no sort of retaliation. Darius was that retaliation.

However, Darius has made more enemies than friends in his long fight against Black Mask, some people even went as far as to recruit him for their cause. To name a few, H.I.V.E, the League Of Shadows, and other criminal gangs. Unfortunately, for that reason, Darius wasn't able to mend things with Supergirl since their last talk, or decent conversation.

If it was one thing Darius could regret, was how he felt for the Kryptonian, he wasn't going to chase after her like some lost dog, if she wanted to part ways, then that's what was going to happen, he wasn't going to let her minor influence get in the way of his work.

Darius punched the guy that charged at him in the throat and kicked him to the side. "Next!"

The rest of the men all gulped, a dreadful tension filled the air as they watched their comrade get hit twice and was immediately out of commission with his ass in the air.

"What're you guys waiting for? I thought you were all going to hit me!"

"This cheeky cunt! I ought to slit your throat!"

"Then do it Frensky!"

The one named Frensky rushed it, but unlike his partner, he readied the flamethrower.

"That's more like it!" Darius ran in, and both he and Frensky met at the center, with the latter shooting off some flames, however, Darius dodged it by spinning to the left, with an opening seen, Darius kicked Frensky in the knee.

"AHHH!" Frensky yelled in pain as his knee bent inwards.

"That has to hurt, let me relieve the…" Darius uppercut Frensky, getting the man to spit blood. "PAIN!"

Darius snapped his head forward to take a look at everyone else, all of them visibly flinching back from how quickly Darius looked at them. "You all want this? To be beaten by someone completely random? While your boss sits in his room behind a desk with a cigar in his mouth? Is that what you all want?"

A pause happened, only the rain could be heard as everyone was standing there either baffled or in deep thought.

"Tell you all this, I'll leave your head attached, and I go my merry way, I don't like to kill for no reason, and I have no reason to kill you guys."

"We were chasing you for hours and…you'll let us go?"

"If you promise to turn around and leave, yeah," Darius said with some hidden hope in his voice. He didn't wish to harm these guys, he already broke one of their legs and probably two skulls, any further than that is unnecessary in his opinion.

"Alright, we'll let the boss know that the Batman was the one who intervened, I'm sure he'll believe it," One man said gruffly. "LET'S MOVE OUT!"

Darius watched all the remaining men flee, Darius took a step and allowed some of them to carry their fallen comrades. When the coast was clear, Darius returned to normal.

"Shit, that went better than expected," Darius said as he wiped his forehead. "We seriously need to talk, Carnage, and you too, Blood."

"I didn't do anything!" Blood whined.

"You were bickering with Carnage at the Warehouse and blew my damn cover, If you didn't I wouldn't have been chased for hours on end, I gotta pee!"

Darius walked down the street with his hands in his pockets, the day's events flowing in his head like trapped water. He didn't expect his cover to be blown so quickly.

Maybe he wasn't cut for covert missions.

Darius stopped walking and sighed. "My life is shit."

"Ya think, Sap? You haven't been able to find yourself a suitable job in a long time, and so you resort to stealing stuff for others, doesn't take a genius to figure that your life is shit," Carnage said unbothered by the fact he didn't help the situation.

"You're not helping…I need a drink," Darius continued walking.

"How much longer till we got to give the guy the damn amulet?"

"Give or take, two days, why?"

"Hehe, we can rest up for the night, and tomorrow we can get that amulet without a problem,"

"It makes me wonder how Black Mask even got his hands on that amulet, I could've sworn Black Mask was just another Crime Lord, not some overachiever looking to become the strongest…or am I wrong?"

"What do I care for all that small stuff, I just wanna cause carnage!"

"I forget your brain is only capable of killing things and eating," Darius said with a frown. Darius walked down to the corner, turning to the left, he walked himself inside the Bar that was there. Upon entering, Darius scanned the Bar, making sure that there weren't too many people.

If he could, he preferred to drink in silence.

Darius walked to the stool and sat down, the stool creaked under pressure and thankfully didn't break.

"What'll you have?" The Bartender said as they walked up.

"Hit me with your strongest, make sure to add a bit of Dr. Pepper,"

The Bartender rose an eyebrow but didn't say anything, he went and did his job.

Darius placed his hands on the counter and began to tap his finger, trying to keep himself preoccupied in the rather silent bar.

"Here ya go, kid, it's on the house."

Darius caught the sliding cup and nodded his head. "Thanks," Darius quickly took a sip; which he followed up by a small, delighted chuckle. "Yeah, this is strong."

Darius didn't stay long after, taking a few more shots before finally feeling relieved of all the stress. He needed to prepare for tomorrow and anything to make his sleep better, the better.

Darius continued to walk down the street with no aim in sight, he wasn't planning on going home just yet, he still needed to formulate ideas on how to infiltrate the abandoned warehouse on the edges of Inwood.

Suddenly, Darius felt something.

He looked up in the sky to see something flying across the sky like a burning meteor. That wasn't good at all.

"Should we check that out?"

'Should we? You already know my answer! Who knows, maybe we'll get some excitement.' Blood gave his answer with a rigid voice.

"I hope I don't regret this!"


In Gotham City, the Crime Lord known as Black Mask was seen looking over some folders. He wore a chalky white tuxedo and black dress shoes. His face is what you would expect from his name, it was like a black mask itself. His red eyes scanned the contents papers that were in the folders.

He was not liking what he was seeing.

"What the fuck is happening in my base in the Bronx? I made sure to supply the men with the damn Flamethrowers in case that bastard Carnage showed his toothy mug and I still get reports that my shipments have been delayed!" Black Mask raved.

"What should we do about Carnage? He's been a pain in the ass since he helped Supergirl five years ago," One of Black Masks goons said.

Black Mask had to give it to Carnage, he knew how to make things complicated. "I might have an idea!" Black Mask said as he jumped from his seat with a confident grin on his face.

"What're you planning to do now, boss?"

"Carnage operates on his own, but what if we get him to come out here to Gotham, we could have him fight the Batman, that way I can destroy two birds with one stone!"

"It seems like a plausible plan, boss."

"Of course it's plausible!" Black Mask said with a snicker as he fixed his tie. "I thought about it long and hard. And it will work, I just need to play my hands correctly."

"How do we even get Carnage to leave his terrority?"

Black Mask's body shot around faster than a blinking eye. "You got me there, perhaps we should hire someone to deliver a message."

The goons looked at each other wearily, and the one from before decided to speak. "Who do we hire?"

"Carnage is weak to fire, hmm, maybe we could get the Royal Flush Gang," Black Mask said as he sat back on his chair and spun it to look out the large window behind him. "They don't require much money and their gadgets could one up Carnage."

"Sounds like a plan, when do we start?"

"We start tonight, Francis, give them five grand each and they'll do whatever, I want Carnage brought in alive."

Francis nodded. "Roger that."

It was now midnight, and Black Mask was now leaving his office. He finished all the pesky paperwork and could finally go lounge around, maybe get a few drinks. He could use one to get his mind off Carnage for a little bit.

The red bastard stuck to him like a thorn.

Black Mask decided to hop himself inside his limo, he knew Gothamites weren't afraid of painting the walls red with his blood, the last thing he needed was some mugger trying to shoot him like they did the Waynes, leaving an orphan behind.

It took about ten minutes to reach his desired location and Black Mask walked out of his limo, he looked from left to right, making sure no one was around and with the coast clear, Black Mask walked inside a building.

Inside, Black Mask was met with his own personal lounge, of course, this was not any building, but one of his strip clubs, he knew just being a Crime Lord wasn't enough, he needed more ways to make income, and with the money he makes, he uses it to make large purchases.

He was planning something big. He just needed the pieces to be aligned, and the first of them was getting Carnage to come to Gotham. If he could get Carnage to work for him, he could mold Carnage into a weapon of his craft, and use it.

Black Mask wasn't dumb, he knew Carnage was an alien, Black Mask wasn't unfamiliar with such beings. After all, he made deals with the infamous Lobo before, who was an alien himself.

He just needed to see what Carnage was about, what was his driving force…if he has any, so far, Carnage hasn't done anything to show that he cared for heroism. Carnage still mangled people, albeit normal muggers and would-be robbers.

Black Mask knew he needed to play his cards correctly.

Black Mask sat down on one of the soft cushioned chairs. With a clap of his hands, the resident Bartender appeared. Black Mask looked at the man with narrowed eyes.

"Get me the usual, I had a rough day," Black Mask ordered strictly.

"Roger!"

Black Mask slumped into the soft, delicate chair and released a well deserved sigh.

The next few days were going to be interesting.

Black Mask felt something rattle, the table, the stools, just about everything was shaking. Black Mask knew it wasn't from inside the building, so he shot up and ran for the door to take a look outside. All Black Mask could see was a fiery ball of fire heading its way towards the building.

"HEY! GET THE FUCK OUT UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE!" Black Mask shouted back in the club.

However, Black Mask would find out that this meteor of fire would be a ticket to more power.


END

I think I'll end it there, I would continue but I think leaving it there would be for the best in my opinion.

So, we get to see Darius after five years, and it seems his life has gone down the drain but is that really the case?

We also get to see Black Mask and his problems as well. He's hoping to hire the Royal Flush Gang to send a message to Carnage, but will they be able to do the task?

I could've gone for any other character, but I want to think outside the box, which is why I chose the Royal Flush gang instead, I like their designs in the DCAU and comics too.

With that said, I'm open to ideas for this story. Leave a review, it'll help.

Death Fury - Thanks once again!