Chapter IV
Kampala, Capital of Uganda...
The faint rays of the sun were stretching out over the city as Nick motioned for Page to follow him. He held up his blaster rifle and ran along the wall of a nearby library as he led the healing experiment through the streets, the sun rising into the sky.
"Come on, come on, hurry!" He whispered as Page followed after him. "Stay close to me and keep it down, I don't want the opposition finding out where we are, Dr. Leafgreen's experiments will shoot to kill if-"
BANG! A gunshot barely missed his head. He grabbed ahold of Page and bolted as fast as he could away from the library as Ewa Lani reloaded her gun and fired off another round. "Dang! Missed. Stupid sun rays." She muttered. "I shoulda picked a better position."
"Sister, you have no idea how true that is." Grey remarked as he looked up at the Water Tower above him where Ewa Lani was hiding. He held up the baseball bat in his hands and swung it hard. CRANG! CRANG! CRANG!
The entire facility shuddered, then began to fall down. Ewa Lani jumped out of it and went falling down, down...
THWUMP. Into Grey's open arms.
"Looks like you...fell for me?" He wisecracked.
"Sorry, that line's not that good." She admitted.
"Yeah, I didn't think too hard on it." He put her down and tossed her gun away. "My dad wants me to beat you up, but I'm letting you off with a warning, okay?"
"Always the gentleman." Ewa Lani laughed as she dove for the rifle and ran off.
Meanwhile, Nick cocked his gun as he frowned darkly. "Something's wrong. Very wrong." He muttered, noticing Page was shivering. "You feel it too?"
"Something horrid and evil has entered this city." Page murmured. "It's...it's disturbing my powers...it's like knives are being stuck into my very soul!"
"Yo, Nick, we gotta problem!" Green spoke up from a walkie-talkie as she launched waves of fire at Psych, forcing him back as she hid behind a large pillar. "I'm at the airport, but so are Psych and Ehjen! They ain't gonna let us leave! Where's Ranku?"
"I haven't seen him." Nick spoke over the walkie talkie as he dodged another attempted sniper shot, ducking into an alley with Page. "Lemme try and reach his channel. Ranku? Ranku, can you hear me?"
"I read you, sir. Loud and clear." Ranku's cultured voice came out. "And I'm trying to make my way over there, but Yehn is giving me some...problems." he added.
"Grey!" Nick yelled into the walkie-talkie. "Will you stop your girlfriend from shooting at us!" He demanded.
"I'm TRYING, believe me!" Grey lied as he sipped a coca-cola from a nearby convenience store. "I'll get...what the?"
He blinked, stiffening as his animal instincts made a horrid surge of terror go through him. A man with long, black hair and slightly glowing yellow eyes in a dark trenchcoat was drinking a Corona.
"Hey, you gotta pay for that." The man behind the counter demanded.
The black-haired man tossed the other guy a look. Somehow it frightened the convenience store worker into shutting up. Then the black-haired man walked out of the room...
Grey had smelled blood and metal on him. And...and something else. Death. Pure, raw, death. Like a thousand dead bodies all rotting together...
"What the hell IS that man?" Grey murmured. He picked up the walkie-talkie. "Dad, I think trouble's just come to the town. There's somebody here who smells of death and darkness and he's wearing a black leather coat with glowing yellow eyes."
Page stiffened. "...glowing...yellow eyes?" He whispered. "Did he have long black hair?"
"Grey, did he have long black hair?" Nick wanted to know.
"He did indeed." Grey admitted.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no." Page murmured. "It is HIM. The wielder of The Darkness. Jackie Estacado."
"Who's Jackie Estacado?" Nick wanted to know as he and Page left the alley and headed into an abandoned house with boarded-up windows. Nick kicked the door down and the two raced inside. He then put all of the furniture at the front door while he checked for any other ways out. There was only one...a basement. He quickly locked it with a heavy chain located by a radiator and then got to work on reloading his rifle.
"He happens to be a mafia hit man." Page murmured. "And he happens...to be after me."
"Why would the mafia want you dead?" Nick wanted to know.
"It's not the MAFIA that Jackie is doing this for. The Darkness is doing it." Page explained. "The Darkness hates all things connected with life and light. It's creations are MOCKERIES of those forces. And I, a wielder of Bios, thus have an existence that's a sin to it. It simply can't stand to see me live solely because of the power I wield!" He held his hands over his head and moaned. "It's caused so much terrible cruelty in the world, but it is not up to ME to destroy it. For some reason it's needed to keep the balance of good and evil..."
A knock on the door. Nick held his rifle up.
"Little pig, little pig, let me in." A voice called out. Page hid behind the doorway to the back of the house as Nick aimed his rifle up.
"Ain't nobody here wantin' to buy nothin'!" He called back. "Go away!"
And then...it happened. A squelchy, disgusting-smelling THING began to ooze underneath the door. Nick watched as a tendril of inky blackness, yellow eyes glowing furiously, rose up from the ooze that was seeping under the door, wrapping around the furniture and tossing it away, one bit at a time.
"...bless the gun." Nick said, handing Page the rifle.
"What?"
"You're a priest. A man of God. Bless the gun or we're both DOG FOOD!" Nick begged.
Page held his hand up and made the sign of the cross, praying as the door burst down, Jackie's yellow eyes glittering with malice.
"Hello." He remarked, looking at Page's pond-colored eyes. "You've really gotta stop running from me."
"Is that blessing done yet?!" Nick nearly shouted, fear gripping his heart as he stood his ground.
"Not yet, stall him!" Page shook his head, muttering more incantations.
"Uhh...hey Jack, lovely eyes you got there! How'd you get 'em?" Nick smiled nervously, spreading his palms up.
"Courtesy of my...shadowy friend..." Jackie shrugged, two piranha-like serpents slithering into the air from Jackie's shoulders, fierce amber eyes glowing sharply, a grin appearing on their faces.
Nick gulped. "Well, they look lovely! Goes great with the look you got goin-URK" a tentacle that slithered on the floor stealthily grabbed Nick from behind, and raised him into the air by the neck, dangling helplessly. "OOOOGH! " He moaned.
Jackie grinned evilly, about to snap the boy's neck until a ka-chak pierced the air.
"May God have mercy on your tortured soul!" Page roared fiercely, pulling the trigger. Jackie laughed before the shot was taken, but bent over backwards as the divine bullet pierced through the shadowy armor and through his chest, making him cry out in pain and surprise. One of the piranha serpents hissed furiously and darted forward, only to be grabbed by Nick with both of his arms, just quickly recovered.
"Take the shot, choir boy! I...can't...hold it...much longer!" Nick grunted, struggling to keep the demonic being away, snapping its long, razor sharp teeth. Page quickly took aim, seeing a face twisted with rage on a man consumed by The Darkness. Before he could pull the trigger, another shot rang in the air, missing Jackie's face, yet leaving a nasty slash on his right cheek. Tracing the bullet's path back to it's origin, Page noticed a tall, lanky teenager with thick facial hair, focused but kind hazel eyes, and dressed in a white Aeropostale sweater, baseball hat, and black jeans, holding a strange weapon in his long arm.
"I suggest you leave, Jackie...now..." the boy growled, unbelievably, another Darkness manifestation growing from his back.
IMPOSSIBLE! Jackie's Darkness screamed in terror, a guttural growl that'll make the Devil cower, the serpents' faces twisted in horror. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE, ME!
"Even I don't know how it came to be, but unlike you, mine isn't insane...and doesn't control me...I control it" the boy grinned. "Now...leave, before I blow your puppet's face off..."
"Big mistake dumbass..." Jackie shook his head. "You and I, are gonna see each other more often now..." And with that, the Darkness retracted itself back into Jackie, and he darted away back onto the dirt path. Just as quickly, the boy holstered his unusual weapon and took off, the manifestation back within him too, under the blinding African sun.
"Uhh...quick question, how many people can utilize this...thing!?!" Nick glanced at Page, still taking in what happened. "Am I going to have to fight a LEGION of those things?"
"...no, there is supposed to be only one..." Page returned the glance, his expression unreadable. "I think we have found our-WAAAAGH!!!" Page yelled as he was snatched away.
"Ya snooze, ya lose chump!" Psych laughed, swinging on a rope held in place by Yenh, struggling to keep his hold by a strong will to laugh. "Oh, here's a parting gift!"
"Why you little-"
SMACK!
A finely cooked pancake with butter smeared on it made a direct hit on Nick's face, his fist raised in the air frozen by the unexpected gift.
"OHH HO HO! Good one laddie!" Ehjen screamed at the top of his lungs, a beer bottle in his fist, then lowered his hand to his pants... "KA-BOOOOOM!" he revealed his no-no area, and ran off, laughing.
"Well I'm gonna have nightmares for years..." Nick stumbled, eyes now swirling black lines...
Later...
Jackie Estacado layed back in a run-down shed offering superb shade from the harsh sun, brooding.
This cannot be... The Darkness spoke to him telepathically. Only I exist...that boy, that...human...has a knock-off of my power! He needs to be reminded of who I AM!
"He already knows my name...I don't like the sounds of it..." Jackie replied, inspecting his custom-made Colt. "However, that boy, the one with the Bios-user, seems to be fighting with someone else...I overheard that gray experiment, back at the store..."
Hmmm, yess...WAR, this may turn out be fun... The Darkness giggled manically...