Chapter 2
"Welcome back, Master Fury." The boy in the white mask looked at his servant.
"Good evening, Plague. Where are the others?"
"In the gallery, at least that's where i saw them last." Plague was a short woman with a witches hat and a medieval plague mask made of leather covering her face. Her voice sounded like that of an older woman but she herself was only in her twenties. She wore a long dark cape.
"Follow me Plague." The two of them walked down a long corridor by candle-light. The walls were crumbling from disrepair and lack of maintanence. Allmost every window was shattered and the walls were covered in graffiti. At the end of the corridor there was a door open and light leaking out of the room on the other side. Voices were shouting and glass was being broke. Fury opened the door and a group of very large dogs came running out followed by a girl with blonde hair and brown eyes, which you could make out slightly around the edge of the fox mask she was wearing. Her voice was high pitched and childish, almost annoying.
"Fury's back!" she yelled running back through the door, the pack of large dogs following her.
"Good old Kiya" Fury said as he pushed his way into the room was large and filled with a bright light from a chandelier hanging from the cieling. In the center of the room was a long mohagany table, and the walls were covered in newspaper clippings from the tabloids.
"Roll Call!" yelled Fury
"Plague!" yelled the girl standing next to Fury in the plague mask.
"Kiya!" yelled the girl with the fox mask surrounded by dogs.
"Gabe!" yelled a man in a well tailored suit standing in the corner, with a raven perched on his was a brief silence, someone was missing from their group. Fury took a quick glance around the room.
"Where the hell is RIP?"The room remained silent as Fury attempted to meet someone's gaze."You were supposed to be watching him... who's taking responsibility this time?"
"Nobody likes that little brat of yours..." came the voice from the shrouded figure in the corner with the removed his mask and glared at Gabe, standing in the corner. Gabe averted the gaze, he knew the trick to Fury's Power.
"Are you afraid of me Gabe?" Fury took a few long strides toward him and continued his conversation. "If I scare you Gabe, let me know so i can be sure to put you at ease."Gabe still averted his gaze. His raven spread its wings and hissed at Fury, making him take a step back.
"Are you afraid of my birds, Fury?"A piece of wood fell from the cieling making everyone look up. Perched throughout the rafters were dozens of ravens. Fury took another step back, and returned his gaze to Gabe, who was smiling with satisfaction. He reached his hand to his shoulder. The bird leapt from his hand to his shoulder. Gabe brought the bird close to his face, rubbed it's feathered head. "Good boy, Jasper." Gabe whispered into the birds ear. Then the bird flew up into the rafters with the rest of the flock.
"You try that again and I will kill you myself!" Fury turned to leave when the raven's in the rafters started kawing.
"Never turn your back on an advisary, Fury!" Jasper and the flock of ravens dove at Fury. Fury turned around in time to see a splatter of blood fill the air.
"No! My birds!" A small boy leapt down from the rafters onto the bodies of the few fallen birds. He reached down, picked up a lifeless body in his hand. The group watched in awe as the young boy split the bird in half with his bear hands and fed upon the flesh.
"You little bastard!" Gabe took a step forward, hand on his rapier, but the boy reacted swiftly. He leapt across the room and looked Gabe in the face with a smile.
"Who are you calling a brat? Now, Die!" The boy pulled three needles out of his sleeve and stabbed them into the neck of the dumbstruck Gabe. Just before the last needle was able to be jabbed into place, Fury restrained him.
"Let me kill him, let me kill him, let me kill that no good bastard, let me go!" Fury grabbed the last needle and jabbed it into the boys neck and he passed out. From the corner came a harsh cough. followed by the sound of blood hitting the floor.
"Fucking kid!" Gabe fell to the ground.
The next morning Gabe woke up, neck bandaged and bloody. He looked around the room, it was empty for the most part except for Plague tending to some cleaning. Gabe's grey eyes looked out the window into the early morning sky. That damn kid, he thought to himself. He put his hand to his neck.
"Let me kill him, let me kill that no good bastard!"
Gabe looked back at Plague who was now near his bed, bandages in hand.
"Try not to speak Gabe, heaven knows you did enough last night"Gabe looked at her for a moment then looked back out the window.
"Gabe, you should know better by now not to say things like that, or do things like that. You know about that boy's past. Hell we all do... Fury is the only thing that kid has as far as family. Especially after what happened to his mother."
I remember the day Fury brought him here, Gabe thought closing his eyes.
RIP grew up in the same neighborhood as his four allies. But one day when his mother was in the middle of an appointment, a group of young kids broke in and killed his mother in front of him. Then they took the money and ran off. RIP wandered the streets for days on end, digging through dumpsters and feeding on stray animals to survive. The day Fury found him he was feeding on a homeless person living in an alley behind an abandoned building. RIP even tried to kill Fury out of rage and instinct. Fury however used his power to help soothe the boys mind, at least enough to keep him compliant.
Gabe opened his eyes just as Plague finished with changing his bandages. She collected the dirty gauss and left the room to dispose of them. Gabe looked at the flourescent light in the cieling. There was something else Gabe remembered about the finding of RIP. The kid apparently had a book from his mom's business, a book on accupuncture. Gabe touched his throat again. The kid was deadly thats for sure, but deffinitely a loose cannon.
Gabe sat up and put on his clothes and ventured downstairs. He planned on meeting the others outside for their daily ritual. As he opened the front doors, a nice cool dusty breeze blew into the house. Outside the house was the remains of an old town, full of broken down houses and barren streets, full of was a group of three standing in the middle of the street facing the sunrise. Fury, Plague and Kiya, stared off into the distance. Their faces devoid of emotion, their eyes filled with sorrow. This used to be their town... their home. Gabe turned toward the manor and on the roof sat RIP, staring blankly into the sunrise.
"You came close again, last night, Gabe. I hope you know that."
"Can it, Fury. I'm sick of listening to tell me how close I was." Fury walked back toward the manor, eyes down.
"You better get your rest, tonight we're hitting the Big Business Building. I expect all of you to be at your best." said Fury as he looked back at the others. He looked toward the roof at RIP. He took great pity on that boy. Regaurdless he was part of the team, and a violent part at that.