Heya Readers!
Hope you all had a good Christmas! I sure did! Even if I've had to work in-between, I still got to work New Years Eve before I can party! But it'll be a good night!
Well, that's enough about me, and enjoy my latest chapter!
Chapter Thirty
Caught in the Act
After Tyroth had spoken to Hacker, the Dragon went to look for Mona and Jake, yet he was unsure of were they were.
He also wasn't sure how he was going to approach them about what he had heard, and he hoped against hope that he was wrong.
"I can see it now!" he thought "They're not going to want to believe any of it!"
He clenched his fists as he tried to think about what to say. He looked around the village, and luckily there was no-one about watching him as they were to busy minding their own business, and he was glad that Callum wasn't amongst them.
"Come on Tyroth!" he scolded himself "Think! You have to talk to Mona and Jake! They won't hate you! Just tell them! Get it out!"
He sighed again.
Here he was, a fearless warrior, the leader of the Chicago Knights! A Protector of Mutopia! A man, or rather mutant who never flinched in the midst of danger, one who struck fear into the hearts of every criminal in the world, even the feared Foot Clan in New York! And here he was worried about the reaction his friends when they heard about their mutant brother!
"Come on Tyroth!" he growled "Stop being so stupid! You can do this!"
As the Dragon stood there trying to gather himself, a soft voice entered his ears.
"Honey?"
He opened his eyes and he saw Sephie standing before him.
"Sephie!" he said surprised.
"What's the matter baby?" asked Sephie in a worried voice as she looked at her husband.
Tyroth looked at Sephie, he couldn't hide anything from her and he did promise her he would let her know if he heard anything from Hugh.
"Sephie." he said quickly pulling her aside "I gotta tell you something!"
"What is it?" asked Sephie in a worried voice.
"I heard back from Hugh." Tyroth said "He found out that the kids who were witnesses to the scene at the Hate Preacher's home saw who attacked the Preacher's wife and brother!"
"They did!?" cried Sephie in shock "Who? Who did it?"
"From what Hugh told me..." Tyroth began "He suspects one of us! The description the kids gave matches..." he hesitated "Callum!"
Sephie's jaw dropped as she looked at Tyroth.
"No way!" she said "Callum? The attacker? I don't believe it!"
"I don't want to believe it either!" Tyroth said "But from what he gathered, those children saw what appeared to be a large black bird! He hasn't jumped to the conclusion that is was Callum, they're still trying to gather evidence, as the other theory is that it was someone in a costume, and a rather convincing one too!"
Sephie bit her lip.
"Oh Gosh, this is bad!" she said "If Callum is the attacker, he's not just putting himself at risk, but the rest of us too! If he's spotted by someone else, the city will become aware of Mutants!"
"That's my fear too babe." Tyroth agreed "I don't really give a shit about those bastards who got attacked since they deserved it, but if the city become aware of us, everything we hold dear will be destroyed! The humans will dig down here and discover us, and then...then..." he paused as he couldn't get what he feared would happen out of his mouth.
"It was terrifying enough when the Foot captured me and I was tortured, and when Jennifer was taken by them as well, Mutopia could have been exposed if I hadn't held my tongue despite the pain they put me under!"
Sephie swallowed hard as she remembered those events all too well.
"What should we do about this hun?" she asked.
"I plan to talk to Mona and Jake." said Tyroth "I don't want to upset them, but they need to know, and we got to investigate Callum, I've already asked Hacker to check the cameras to see if they saw anything, and I'm going to need to keep an eye on Callum myself, without him knowing."
Sephie was about to speak again when she suddenly saw Callum coming into view from the residential area.
"There he is!" she hissed then looked down innocently, Tyroth at the same time looked at his claws yet he observed the Raven out the corner of his eye as he strutted over.
"There's something about that Raven." Tyroth thought as he continued to pretend to be in his own world "But I'll be watching you, from a distance! What are you hiding?"
Meanwhile, Callum, completely unaware that Tyroth had become suspicious of him started to head towards the Mess Hall, he glanced at the Dragon and Gecko couple as they avoided his gaze and he held up his talons and looked at them, before a small smirk crept onto his beak.
"Once again another successful mission." he thought to himself, he had watched the news about the Preacher's wife and Brother's attack, and he couldn't wait to go on another rampage, maybe this time, as he had all the names of the followers of the despicable church, he could find them all and drive them insane, pick them off one by one and make them feel fear.
"They were so delusional, they thought nothing could touch them, but how wrong are they?" he thought again with a smirk "Each and everyone one of them will feel fear! They will never be able to run from fear! Their prayers cannot save them! Their so-called God will not save them! They will only know Diablo!"
He opened a notebook and at a list of people and addresses he had copied from the address book he had stolen from the Preacher.
"Each and every one of them will taste what I have given their leader and his family, and they too shall suffer."
He tapped his talons on the table and smirked more.
"When all fall asleep here, I shall sneak out of the sanctuary again and do away with another group of followers, I wonder what else I can do to them? What I can do to make them go even more insane?"
So many ideas were flowing through his head as he thought of he could do next to the followers of the church.
He knew they preached against Homosexuality mostly, and said how they were child molesters and rapists which wasn't true.
The same evil smirk curled on his beak as he thought of how he could drive his victims insane, and one could involve gay porn, forcing them to watch it.
"Just like that scene in Clockwork Orange!" he thought "That sounds like a good one!" he looked at his list again then looked up at the other residents in the mess hall.
"I'll be leaving this place soon." he thought "I really don't belong here, I'll thank them for giving me this new body and how I can use it, but I not staying here to live by their rules! And why should I?"
He had decided after his second mission topside that he felt he didn't belong in Mutopia, after all the rules they had, he wanted to use his new body to it's advantage, Callum Freeman was dead, he had died that night when the Shredder had stabbed him, and now, in his place, was Diablo the Raven.
"Mutopia will soon become aware of me." Callum thought "I was never one of them, I am me, and I am free, free to be my own person!"
Meanwhile in his computer room, Hacker was looking through his computer screens trying to find footage from last night and the night before.
He always had the cameras on during the sleeping hours, just to check for intruders or anyone leaving when they weren't supposed to.
He remembered one incident some years before when he was asked to check the cameras to see if Mona had left the sanctuary.
It had been one Christmas ago when the New Yorkers had visited Mutopia after Amber and joined the team and Tyroth's parents had found a new home in Chicago.
After an argument with Tyroth about him having found his family, and her family had no idea of what happened to her, she had fled Mutopia upset and gone into Chicago but ended up almost dying of cold when she was attacked by a gang and left too weak to return.
If it hadn't been for Tyroth finding her and using his mana and magic to save her, she would have died in the cold snowy city. It was a blessing that Hacker had the cameras recording almost everything that went on in Mutopia.
Going over the videos, the Spider yawned then took a sip of soda he had on the side, so far, all he had seen was just blank videos of the sanctuary in darkness.
After a few minutes he was on the verge of giving up when he suddenly saw what looked like a shape moving in the darkness.
"Huh?" he paused the video before taking it back a few seconds "What was that?"
He played the video again then saw the same shape, he repeated the procedure again and again several times then decided his eyes weren't lying.
"No way!"
He started to play the video in slow motion so he could study the image better.
It was dark since there were barely any lights during sleeping hours and because the cameras were slightly fuzzy it was difficult to see.
But what he could make out was a large black shape that stood out in the dim light.
Zooming in, he could see that the figure was tall, and it looked around cautiously, showing it had a long sharp beak!
"A bird!" he whispered taking another sip of his soda and slowing the camera even more and zooming in.
"A black bird! No! A raven!" he sat back in his chair and thought hard, then he thought of Callum.
"No!" he thought "The Lizard Lady's brother? No! He wouldn't? Would he?" he looked at the image again and studied it hard, he played it again, and again and he soon came to the conclusion that his many eyes did not lie.
Picking up his phone he sent a text to Tyroth requesting him to come to his quarters immediately.
It was only a few minutes before the Dragon arrived, yet he wasn't alone as he had brought Jake and Mona with him along with Sephie.
Not long after he had seen Callum go into the Mess Hall, he had found Mona and Jake leaving Sonia's room after checking on the children and he had spoken to them about what Hugh had said.
Mona and Jake had refused to believe it at first but were shocked.
Jake looked furious whilst Mona looked hurt and upset.
Sephie had an arm around the lizard lady's shoulders and Tyroth had a large paw on Jake's shoulders.
"I'm sorry Jake." he said "I know this is hard for you to take, both of you, but from what the kid's saw, and what Hugh described..."
"It's not your fault Tyroth." Mona said "You're our friend, and friends must be honest." she sighed then looked at Sephie.
"I can't believe that Callum would do this."
"He got into fights, and did drugs, and smoked and drank." Jake said "But this...this is way beyond! The only harm he inflicted was just punching and kicking the daylights out of bullies or anyone that pissed him off!"
Hacker turned away from the videos as he saw the three mutants and human man enter.
"Hey guys!" he said looking grim.
"What have you found Spider-man?" asked Tyroth looking serious.
"I had to go through the tapes several times." Hacker said "It was dark as it always is when we sleep, but the cameras picked up something!"
"What?" Tyroth asked, dreading the answer.
"See for yourself boss!" Hacker said moving aside in his chair so the Mutants and Jake could see clearly.
Mona bit her lip and Jake narrowed his eyes as they looked at the images.
Tyroth and Sephie also looked and they went pale.
"No!" Sephie said "It can't be!"
"My eyes aren't lying!" Hacker said "And I got loads!"
Mona shut her eyes and sighed as if with deep disappointment, Jake meanwhile clenched his fists and growled.
"Callum!" he snarled.
Tyroth also clenched his fists.
"The kids descriptions of a large black bird, what Hacker's cameras have shown...it all fits!" he said.
"Callum's the attacker?" Jake said "I can't! I don't believe it!"
Mona said nothing but placed her head in her hands.
"No!" she wept softly to which Sephie wrapped her arms around her more for comfort.
Mona wasn't angry at the fact Callum had attacked the Hate Preacher and his family, as they deserved what they got.
After all two years before the Turtles took her in, she was killing off Purple Dragons for what they did to her.
But like Tyroth, she was worried that Callum's actions were putting himself and the Mutopians in danger at being discovered.
Looking up from her hands and wiping her eyes with the black of her gloved hand she looked at her brother and the other mutants.
"I have to talk to him!" she said.
"What?" Jake said surprised.
"I got to talk to Callum." Mona insisted "I have to find out from his lips, I know he and I aren't on speaking terms, but I have to break the ice with him and find out the truth! And out of everyone here and I know how he feels."
Tyroth and Sephie looked confused then they understood and nodded.
"I spent two years killing Purple Dragons before the Turtles took me in, and as much as what I did was through blind rage at what they did and they deserved it, I was putting myself at risk, and Callum's following my path!"
"Seems to run in the family." Hacker muttered to which Tyroth glared at him.
"Just saying!" Hacker shrugged.
"He's right." Mona said "Like Sister, like brother." she sighed again "Look, Jake, Tyroth, allow me to talk to Callum first, Maybe he'll open up to me, like he did before..." she sighed then added under her breath "I hope..."
Uh oh! Hacker's cameras have picked up Callum leaving Mutopia! It seems the evidence is now clear!
And now Mona plans to talk to her younger brother, but how will she approach him? And will Callum have something to tell her?
We shall find out soon enough! Hopefully before we go into 2019! But if not! Hope you all have a great New Year!
Love Bloodrayne666 xxx