Vally yawned, rubbing her eyes as she stepped into the communications hub. Madrid was sitting at the main console, nervous that they had not heard from Carter in some time. Gabriel lay in his mother's arms, a pacifier in his mouth, eyes looking about as he shifted slightly.
"Mama, is daddy back yet?" Vally asked, sitting down at her mother's feet.
"Not yet baby." Madrid said.
"Mama…what if daddy needs our help? How will we know?"
Madrid smiled weakly, not letting on that the same thoughts were running through her mind. "Aunt Sarah is with him… she'll help him."
Vally nodded before hugging her mother's leg. "I want daddy to come home."
"Me too baby…me too."
^&^&^&^
"Is this the best you can do, Drago?" Carter taunted, driving his sword into the body-snatcher's arm. "Really, I expected more." He swung his blade, missing Drago's throat by inches. He leapt back and took a moment to breath. He looked to his right, and with a smirk picking up duffle back that lay near Fredrick's stolen thrown. He waved it in the air, taunting his foe with the jingle of gold within. "This is what you have been reduced to, Drago? Robbing the graves of the dead?" He slung the pack around his shoulder. "Marie told me all about you, how you were so great, so powerful…granted, she killed you…and I plan to finish the job…still, I expected a challenge!" His flames burned along his sword as he readied himself for another skirmish.
Drago twisted his head, fur growing along his flesh. "Foolish boy…you may wear my brother's face, but you lack his wisdom. The only thing that has spared you from my wrath was my love of Abaddon." He pulled away his robes; skin warping and squirming as a second face grew upon his chest, the jaws and eyes of a mighty lion forming. "But now…I hold no such regard." As the dark brown fur finished covering his body, scales formed along his backside, elongating and twisting into the form of a great serpent. "I will tear you apart, rip your soul from your body…and then, then I will wait for my dear Abaddon to be born again!" His face elongated and stretched, horns growing upon his forehead, until his face was that of a goat. He held up a clawed hand, black nails glowing in the pale light of the cavern, before he leapt at Carter, ripping into his chest. "You will pay and you will die!" He roared, brutally striking Carter again and again. "I have had lifetimes to train, to learn…you are a babe compared to me! I have both learned and taught the greatest warriors in the world. Knights of renown, the most cunning of thieves and killers. Butchers and even Swordsaints! You think you are a match for me?!?"
Carter grunted, blasting himself free as Drago rushed him all the same once more. The tone of the battle had changed within seconds, Drago taking the advantage and pressing it. Carter swung his blade madly, trying to avoid the horns, fangs and jaws of the monster Drago had become, his blood staining the ground as Drago collected his pound of flesh.
Leaping over Drago's back, Carter moved to escape, only for find himself flung to the hard ground, the serpent tail sinking its fangs into his ankle. Drago let out a dark chuckle as he slowly began to reel him in like a struggling bass, wrapping him up tighter and tighter.
"Not so easy now, is it Metatron?"
^&^&^&^
"You think we are close?" West asked, the group turning a corner.
They skid to a stop, looking at the scene before them. A grand cavern lay before them, high above Carter battled to free himself from the gripe of a chimera. Below, the horde of undead watched out, murmuring to themselves. And just off to the side where Carter was fighting for his life, stood Fredrick Frauzen, one hand upon his golden throne.
"Yeah…I would say so." Sarah whispered.
"What do we have here?" Fredrick questioned, moving around his throne. "More intruders in my family home…more thieves come to steal away my brothers and sisters." He circled behind the golden seat, eyes riveted to the new arrivals. "I had brought my family here, to allow them the privilege of defending my honor after these two…ruffians…dared to disrespect me. But now…now I believe that I should give them the chance to stretch their muscles a tad, before they engage in glorious battle."
Moving to the front of the throne, Fredrick eased himself down, his right leg stretched out, right hand coming up to run along his chin. He stared at the group with lazy eyes, taking his time.
"Kill them. Every last one of them."
The corpses turned as one, bellowing in bloodlust.
"Aw shit." Terrence muttered, just having time to pull out his gun before he found himself engulfed by the mob, fighting for his very life.
"Good…good…keep fighting!" Fredrick screamed. "Bring glory to our house, my brothers and sisters!"
"This guy isn't all there, is he?" Tina asked, melting several zombies down to goo.
Sarah didn't respond, focused solely on getting to her brother's side.
^&^&^&^
"How does it feel, to know that this will be the end…no grand finale, no heroic sacrifice…just dying in the darkness, failing all." Drago leaned in close, his hot breath blasting on Carter's whitening face. "I would ask for an answer…but you very well can't talk now, can you?"
Carter's struggles had weakened, features growing slack as his vision grew blurry. The snake was still latched onto him, wrapped around him so heavily that only his face could be seen. He stiffened as Drago squeezed once more, cackling as he did so.
"You will never defeat me, Metatron…I will have my brother back."
Carter's eyes began to glow.
"What is this…are you going to try and make me feel fear? Go ahead…it was only make me squeeze harder!"
Carter's eyes flashed, and from each of them he fired a blast of whammy energy. Drago was prepared for this.
What he wasn't prepared for was the simple rule of physics…everything, even energy, has some mass.
The blast ripped through the lion's face on his chest, causing him to scream in agony. He tightened the snake only once, but this only made Carter's eye line jump, the blast rocketing up and ripping Drago's jaw from his face. Carter fell to the ground, gasping for air, as Drago bellowed out, his cries drowning out the sound of battle below.
Carter began to drag himself away, only for Drago's snake tail to grab hold of his ankle once more and throw him high into the air, Drago leaping after him, his jaw already reforming. Carter grabbed onto a rocking overhead, hanging from the ceiling and shook himself out of his stupor, pulling out his daggers.
"I am getting sick of that snake!" He shouted, letting go. As he fell he swung the bag filled with gold at Drago's head, before he grabbed onto the snake, using it to jerk Drago back down. His daggers flashed once, twice, and he found himself falling away from Drago, the now dead snake twitching in his hand.
Landing, Carter looked across the landing to where Drago had fallen, the shapeshifter roaring as he rose on his hind legs, both faces snapping at his direction.
Carter looked down. "Think I'll take my chances with the dead guys."
And with that, Carter dove off the platform into the mob below.
^&^&^&^
"Boring!" Fredrick shouted as West was punched in the gut, sending him stumbling. He leaned forward, waving his hand dismissively. "Come now, you must have something a bit more interesting you can do to try and stop them…if you merely die it is not entertaining in the slightest."
"I really hate him…I really do!" Tina shouted, ducking a punch and slamming her palms into a corpse's stomach, making it burst open and covered her with guts. "I…really…hate…all…of…this!" She screamed in frustration.
Terrence stood in front of Micah, doing his best to protect the youngest member of the group. "Damn it, we are doing nothing!"
"Oh, you are doing something." Fredrick taunted. "You are failing. You are losing. You are dying. See…you are doing more than nothing…so much more."
Sarah grit her teeth. "SHUT UP!" She shouted, blasting Fredrick with a shot of whammy flames. He fell to his knees, screaming.
As did this army of corpses.
"What…the hell?" Tina whispered.
"He doesn't bring them back to life…" reutilization
"What?" West exclaimed.
"He is all the corpses…they are connected to him! We hurt him…we hurt all of them."
Terrence and Sarah shared a look. "Best news I heard all day." Terrence said.
"Mom has been saying I should connect more with my birth family." Terrence and Sarah both raised their hands, whammy flames and white electricity crackling in the air. "hey Fredrick! Here's another bit of medicine for you!"
The twin blasts had the Doctor twitching on the floor, his army falling down, lifeless and cold, their fight gone. Sarah took a step forward, firing another blast, a wicked grin on her face.
"This is for all the misery you caused!" She shouted. "This is for all the pain!" She fired off to more blasts. "This is for making come into these damn catacombs!" Her eyes went blood red. "AND THIS IS HURTING MY NIECE!"
Fredrick reared up, throat going raw as the whammy flames twisted his already fragile psyche. Sarah licked her eyes, ready to head up the stairs…only to find Carter pulling her back.
"NO!" Carter shouted. "We need to go!"
"We have him on the run!" Sarah shouted.
Drago roared from up high.
"We aren't ready to take on Fredrick's new friend." Carter said sternly. "We need to regroup, now!" He turned to the group. "Everyone accounted for?"
Terrence nodded. "Yeah…and judging from the way Drago is twitching, I would say its time to go."
Indeed, Drago seemed to be growing larger, spikes forming along his spine as bat-like wings burst from his shoulder blades.
"Time to go!" Tina shouted, firing a final blast of acid at Drago, just managing to nail him in the face. Drago clawed as his melting eyes, screaming his outrage. "That bought us a minute, lets get the heck out of here!"
Carter nodded, pushing Sarah away. "lets go!"
"Yes…go!" Drago roared, still blind, Fredrick whimpering near his feet. "Run away, Metatron, like the coward you are. But know this…you may wear my brother's face, but you are not him…and I will see you pay for destroying his good name as you have! Your death will not come for a long time…only will it come after I am done with your family."
Carter froze.
"Yes…your family…I will use all my skills to destroy them first. I will break your sisters, Claire and Sarah…I will drive them into madness, and when the darkness finally comes for them, have this wretch Fredrick turn their lifeless husks into my slaves. I will pull every bone from your mother's twitching bone, then impale each into your father's whimpering body. I will find your son, asleep in his crib, and slam his head against the wall to it is stained crimson with his blood. I will flay your wife and drag her through the streets, only to let her heal so I can do it again and again. And your daughter…the one they call the Avatar, the one you all believe destined to bring peace to this world…she will be the last thing you see, her limp cold body sliding to the ground after I am down using her tiny form to slate my lust, split in two and degraded and broken. This is your fate for daring to spit upon my offer of brotherhood! No where you hide will be safe…no matter how many of your friends you gather to you, they will not be enough to stop me! I will have my vengeance upon you, Carter Daniels, and it will be brought forth by the body and blood of all those you love!"
Drago's body finished its transformation, and where once had stood first a man and then a chimera was now a great black dragon, nearly filling the entire room, its red eyes still healing from Tina's acid attack. His forked tongue flicked out as winds whipped about the room from his beating wings, his tail curling around Fredrick's moaning form and lifting him up. The beast blinked, trying to find Carter, watching to sink his teeth into his foe's soft body.
The Metatron took a step forward.
"Carter!" Terrence called out. He felt Sarah grab him, preventing him from stopping Carter from going forward. But when he looked in her eyes, he saw not Sarah Daniels, but the Envoy, the Word of God.
"You want my love." The Metatron said, raising his blade."Yes." Drago hissed. "Call them what you want…your family…your kin…your love…I will have them."
The Metatron's mind went back, months ago, to the dream he, Madrid and Vally had shared…the dream of a great Drago seeking to consume the world, only the three of them there to stand against it.
And in that moment, he knew what he had to do…he could not defeat this beast…not yet. But he would slow him down.
Those behind him went shock-still as Carter plunged his sword into his chest.
"My love is in here." He said, removing his hands from his hilt and gripping the edge of the wound. With a mighty pull he ripped his chest open. But where should have been his beating heart, there instead glowed a raging ball of fire, swirling and quivering behind his rips. The source of Carter's fires suddenly flared. "Take it."
All was quiet.
All was still.
And then…glorious chaos.
Pure white flames shot from his chest, striking Drago and sending the dragon falling back. He roared as his skin was burned, clawing and thrashing about. Carter's own body was sent rocketing back, Sarah's own super speed he only thing keeping him from crushing his spine against the back wall. She held him tight as he unleashed everything, Drago bellowing as he finally fell, smashing the throne all the bodies that lay below him.
The cavern began to rumble.
Carter smiled weakly as Terrence pulled the kensei blade from his chest, his great wound healing, the now tiny ball of fire glowing like a still hot ember as his skin sealed shut. "It is as you said…Drago…one wrong punch brings the whole place down." He shut his eyes, Sarah lifting him up and dashing for the exit as the cavern collapsed behind them.
"Metatron!" Drago managed to scream one last time before the great hall fell, silencing him as he was buried under tons of solid rock. Sarah just managed to get herself and her brother clear, Terrence, West, Tina and Micah looking on as the exit was sealed by several giant hunks of stone.
Micah looked at them all before asking what they all wondered.
"Can we go home now?"
^&^&^&^
Two hours later, Carter found himself being shaken, forced to wake up.
"You aren't scaring that little girl." Tina said sternly. "Now wake up."
Carter nodded, his entire body feeling as if it were broken. Forcing himself to sit up straight, he looked out the window of the van in time to see Vally running towards them.
"DADDY!" She squealed, not even letting the van stop. She merely leapt forward, breaking the window as she flew into the van, arms wrapping around his neck.
"Vally!" Madrid called out, chasing after her.
Carter had no strength to scold his child, Drago's dark words still echoing and causing him to hug her all the tighter, tears running down his cheeks. "Hi princess." He whispered.
Vally smiled, kissing him several times. "Missed you daddy."
"Missed you too." Carter whispered, getting out of the van. Before Madrid could say a word he grabbed her, kissing her hard, Vally and Gabriel held between them.
"Carter?" Madrid finally said after he released her from the toe curling kiss. "What…"
"Later…I just want to be with you guys right now."
Vally, however, did not let him have peace. "Where's our presents?"
"In the bag, cutie." Tina said, throwing the duffle Carter had stolen from Drago. Vally rushed over, giggling as she pulled out a tiara.
"Look mama, I'm a real princess!" She ran to Gabriel, giving the baby a small golden scepter. "And Gabe gets the shiny rattle!"
Helena, who had come out of the house followed by Vic, chuckled. "Those shine like real diamonds."
"They are." Terrence said, mood grim but still managing a slight smile as he watched his niece place. It was still weird to think that only a month ago, he had wanted to kidnap the little girl…and here he was, watching her play. The words Drago had spoken echoed in his mind too, and he knew now that, whatever he had believed earlier, he would not be able to leave after this mission. He could not let his only surviving family members, suffer and die at the hands of that monster. Now, as long as he drew breath…Terrence Harper would put aside his rivalry with his brother, and stand with him and Sarah…the three youngest members of the House of Ellis.
"What happened?" Vic said.
"Bad stuff." Carter managed to get out.
"Welcome to the club." Malcolm called out. They all turned to see him jump out of a large bus, several move pulling up behind his. "Carter…we need to talk."
^&^&^&^
Author's Notes; A lot of stuff going on here, I'll hit only on a few.
The chimera form of Drago comes from me playing way too much God of War 3.
I forget which chapter, but Carter, Madrid and Vally all shared a dream where a great black dragon appeared and threatened them, and as it did so their backs ripped open and angelic wings burst forth. I am so glad that I finally get to pay that dream off…yes, since early on I knew everything was leading to the House of Ellis facing Drago.
Now, here comes the very long, very detailed explanation of what the heck all that with Carter stabbing himself was about. I am basically going to spell a lot of stuff out for you guys, so if you would rather research it yourself, go ahead…that scene has a ton to do with the HEROES mythology. A lot of this was planned, but I will admit a few things are happy accidents.
Takezo Kensei is a swordsman of legend in the Heroes universe. The first Kensei was Adam Monroe, who is the great grandfather of Carter Daniels (Adam and an unknown prostitute produced the age manipulating Vic Daniels. Vic would impregnate Joy Ellis, the daughter of Isaiah Ellis. Her son was Edward Ellis, the man that would rape Meredith Gordon, this rape resulting in the birth of Carter). The second Kensei is Hiro Nakamura. Hiro's grandfather, in heaven, would train Carter in the ways of the katana during the time Carter was dead (Between the events of Season 1 and 2. This was revealed when Carter battled Kato Nakamura in the chapter "godfire"). Thus Carter, already, is linked twice to the men known as Kensei. Also, because of the many legends of Kensei, it can be assumed that there were other figures whose stories were merged together with Kensei, just as they were done with Hiro and Adam.
And, of course, Carter now wields the kensei blade, Madrid having had the sword stolen from Hiro and making a duplicate, keeping the original and returning to Hiro the new one.
Now then…the first legend of Kensei states that he had great power he could not control, until he discovered a sword in the ice. This did not happen with either Hiro or Adam.
But Carter, who did not have control of his powers, returned to the land of the living in Alaska, during a snowstorm. And when he returned in this land of ice, he found control over his powers.
The other legend of Kensei's beginning is that he was taught the ways of the blade by a great Drago. In this chapter, Drago states he has taught many…including swordsaints…kensei means "Swordsaint". Thus, it can be assumed that Drago trained swordsaints…and very likely Adam Monroe.
The final legend of Kensei is told to us by Hiro in "Landslide": The Dragon returned to Kensei and demanded payment…he wanted his love…the princess. Carter commonly calls Vally "princess". Kensei responds by cutting out his own heart and telling the dragon "My love is in here…take it."
This never happened to Hiro or Adam.
Thus, my take: Several of the legends of Kensei were not legends, but prophecies of the 3rd swordsaint that would arise. Carter Daniels, the great grandson of the first kensei, trained by the grandfather of the second, in that moment, became the 3rd Kensei, plunging his sword to cut out his own heart to stop the great Dragon who trained the first. Thus, all the legends of Takezo Kensei have come to pass.
Finally, we have only one more chapter to go in this mini Volume, "In Darkness Dwells". The battle against Drago is over…but the war is about to begin. And what happens in Chapter 100, "Milestone" will change both ELSEWHERE and HEROES forever.
The End Has Come