I followed Raven to the end of the hall and out of the exit at the end. Once outside, I noticed a sort of bazaar-like area in the courtyard in front of us. There was another exit that lead from the bazaar to the sidewalk and streets off to the right, but the rest of the courtyard was just booths and vendors everywhere selling all kinds of merchandise.
"Um, where are we going? Where are you taking me, Raven?"
"You'll see", she responded as she pulls up her hood, instantly changing her appearance from beautiful and cute, to mysterious and sexy. She then rises into the air, looking down at me when she noticed me hesitating. "You coming?" I then took a moment to look around at the nearby people. Most of them didn't care, probably from being used to seeing Raven flying around the city on a regular basis, but a few of them stopped to see what I would do to follow her.
"Yeah, I'm coming", I said as I looked back up at her and prepared to Change. Blindimon armor-digivolve to…. Gizamon, the Wolf of Faith! With my Change now complete, I flap my wings and fly up to meet Raven. "Allow me", I said to her as I reached for her bag with the offer of carrying it for her. She hesitated for a moment, but gave me her bag once she realized what I was doing. Once that was out of the way, I spoke to her again as I said, "lead on."
"This way", she says with a nod before banking to my left, with me flying right by her side. We flew about four blocks South of the mall before Raven came to a stop as she hovered over a not-so-tall building which was completely pitch black. "We're here", she said as she descended towards the ground. I slow my wings down gradually as I descend along with her. Once we landed, it was then I noticed that it was a cafe she brought me to.
"Gothic City", I asked her as I read the name of the building.
"Trust me, you'll love it", said Raven as she walks past me towards the entrance. I rise to my hind paws and follow behind her. When we reached the cafe, there was an employee there waiting for us. Every piece of clothing he wore, as well as his long hair, was as black as the cafe itself, and he wore black eyeliner, eye shadow, nail polish, and lipstick. This guy had so much added makeup and shit that I couldn't tell if he was a goth or a mime.
"Welcome to Gothic City", began the employee in a voice so unenthusiastic and droll that it made Raven's monotone sound like one of the Chipmunks. "We ask that you please silence all cell phones, be courteous to your neighbor, and cease all talking while performers are performing. We also ask that you leave all pets at home", he says as he looks towards me. Now he was just being a dick. At least when Sweeney thought I was just a regular animal I was on all fours at the time, which in that respect justifies his comments. But I stood before this depressing mime not only as a wolf, but a bigger-than-normal wolf on two legs, a large almost lion-like mane, and wings on my back, and he blatantly still called me a pet.
"He's not a pet. I invited him", said Raven.
"Whatever", said the mime. I didn't even have to Change back to my human form, he just went with it. He then steps away from his little podium thing and opens the door for us. "Please enjoy your visit to Gothic City."
Dude, for God's sake, lighten up, I thought to myself as we walked by him and into the cafe. Once we were inside, I Changed back to my human form. I didn't think that walking into a cafe as a 6 1/2 foot winged werewolf was too intelligent of an idea.
The inside of the cafe was, for lack of a better word, depressing. The walls were all painted black, the windows each had three layers of blackout curtains, the entire cafe was lit up with only three ceiling lamps (one at the counter, one at the entrance, and the third on the stage), and more than 90% of the people (employees included), were dressed in outfits and makeup similar to the mime just outside.
I'm pretty sure this is where coulrophobia comes from, I think to myself as I felt completely out of place. Raven then led me over to a table by the stage. We had arrived at a good time because the table we selected to sit at, in comparison to the others, was the perfect spot for observing the stage. It was in the section of tables that were right in front of the stage, but was directly in the middle of all of the others (not too far up front, not too far in back). Once I was certain I knew which table Raven was leading me to, I teleported ahead of her and pulled her chair out for her. Her response consisted of a small grin and a nod as she swept her cloak from behind her as she sat down so that she wouldn't sit on it. Upon seeing her do so, the world slowed down again. Normally this sort of thing didn't bother me all that much, but in this case I felt a bit of shame. This was because the world slowed down just as Raven was sweeping her cloak from under her rear, which allowed me to look directly at it for a while. I knew I shouldn't have been gawking at her behind like that, and looking back I still feel guilty that I did, but I just couldn't help it, it was right there. I soon snapped out of it when I noticed that I was starting to react again, which made me anxious to get to my seat before Raven noticed. When I sat down, I noticed that the table had two of those little electronic computer things you often saw at restaurants like Red Robin.
"In case you missed it, the staff here aren't really social, at all", said Raven as she pointed to her electronic menu. As I looked through mine, I started to get hungry all over again (ungrateful stomach). Again, not wanting to look like a pig, I thought of a sneaky way to find out what Raven was ordering first.
"So many choices", I began as I flipped through the pages. "What do you recommend?" Raven then leans over to my menu and selects my order for me. She and I were both having Alfredo pasta bowls and a raspberry scone. A bit of an odd order, but I didn't question it or complain, I enjoyed both pasta and scones. The menu then asked us for our drinks. I would later find out that Raven ordered her some herbal tea. As for me, I switched it up a little. Let's see here…. water, coffee, chocolate milk, boring. Ooooh! Japanese-style green tea, I thought to myself as I clicked the respective button and completed my order. The screen said that our food would be ready in a few minutes. I looked up from my screen and noticed Raven was looking at the stage, so I turned my attention there as well. There was a girl on stage reciting poetry she wrote. She was on stage when we first walked in, but I wasn't really paying attention to her, in fact I still wasn't. No disrespect to her, but my mind was still racing about the Elementals and what my next plan of action was. I knew what my associates could do, but as for what I was supposed to do, I was stumped. Until I could thoroughly think of a plan, my only hope was that Andre found Kendall and sent her to Jump City.
My thoughts are interrupted as I noticed the performer walking off the stage. The patrons in the cafe, Raven included, all began snapping, which I guess was how they applauded. Wanting to look like I was paying attention, I snapped as well.
"Don't worry, they get better", said Raven with a chuckle as she leaned over to me. The next performer then made his way to the stage. I would describe what he looked like, but because of the "dress code" of this cafe, he looked exactly like everybody else, so there wasn't anything remotely interesting or unique about him. The only thing I could tell you was that he looked to be about the age of fourteen.
Okay, I should probably listen to this guy, I thought to myself, thinking that it'd look really bad if I spaced out the entire time. The gothic teen then began to read his poetry.
Life,
What is the point of life?
Gee, he seems like a barrel of laughs, I thought as I began commentating in my head.
Is it to work?
Or perhaps to play?
Who cares? We're all dead anyway.
Speak for yourself, Kid.
And then school?
More like, church for fools.
Say what?
To "learn"?
I mean who actually "learns" anymore?
I don't even know how to respond to that.
Here's a little something that doesn't make sense
They teach us to "learn"
But not how to use common sense
Because that's how the fuck common sense works, you moron! I don't really remember the rest of his "poem", I just remember that I was screaming at him in my head the entire time. Immediately following his performance were three other performers. All of them young high school-aged children, if not younger, all of them dressed like clowns, all of them complaining over some whiny, spoiled brat bullshit. One talked about "the politics" of his gym class, and another dedicated her poem to the hatred she had for her school principal. The only one that kinda grabbed my attention was one from a boy who looked to be about sixteen talking about bullying, and how he felt bullied by his parents. However, my sympathy for him went out the window when he started complaining about his curfew, the fact he has no car, the fact he was forced to get a job, and a bunch of other crap.
Dude, shut the Hell up. I was quite literally raised by wolves, both of whom have tried to kill me in the past. But by all means, tell me again about how unfair and terrible your life is because you have to be in bed by 10:00. As the whiny teenager left the stage and the audience snapped, I glanced over at the clock that hung on the wall nearby and noticed it was 5:30 pm. Wow, these kids talked for a while. And our food isn't here yet either. Raven, as if she could read my mind (as usual), broke the silence.
"Having fun?"
"Not really", I began hesitantly. "No offense, but this place is a drag. Remind me why we came here again?" I soon felt guilty for saying that to her the way I did. She invited me here with her, and for all I knew this was her favorite hangout spot. Fucking smooth, Fernando, I scolded to myself.
"Tell me, are you depressed now?" I hesitate again before responding.
"Um, huh. Actually, no, no I'm not."
"That is why I brought you here."
"What do you mean?"
"They say that "there's always somebody who has it worse than you", and that you should always remember that when you think you're having a bad day. As for me, I like to look at things a little differently. Every week I come here to witness and listen to Gothic City's open mic performances. I sit here for hours at a time, surrounded by the dark, depressing atmosphere, terrible customer service, all while listening to and laughing at the whiny complaining of young children who don't know the first thing about hurt, pain, or even the real world in general for that matter. But in doing so, I get to see my own life in a different perspective. It allows me to realize that although my problems may knock me down, and I can never let them keep me down, at least not for long, otherwise I'll end up like those kids. I come here not because I enjoy the cafe itself, I come here because it provides a nice confidence boost, and occasionally a few good laughs. And each time I leave here, I leave feeling more confident in myself than I did when I arrived. We will find your friends. You helped us with the H.I.V.E. Five, so let us help you. That is what friends are supposed to do for each other, right?" I was stunned. Raven just kept finding more and more ways to surprise me again and again, making me fall for her even more.
"You, are, brilliant."
"Well I do appreciate the compliment." I chuckled for a moment before speaking again.
"Seriously though, thank you."
"Anytime." It was around that time that our food finally arrived.
"Here", said the gothic waitress in yet another unenthused voice. Normally that would've bothered me greatly, but after knowing what Raven did in bringing me to this cafe and the fact that she did so to comfort and make me feel better, I was in way too good a mood to let it get to me.
The following three and a half hours consisted of Raven and I enjoying a nice dinner while we secretly laughed at the whiny children that performed onstage. We would also, during the occasional breaks in between performers, exchange stories about adventures we've had. Though I didn't harp on it or think about it too much, I found it a little weird that the villains Raven mentioned in her stories this time (Slade, Mumbo, Killer Moth, Control Freak, and Mad Mod), were the exact same ones from when we were exchanging stories in Box Elder, they were just different stories than the ones from last time.
Feeling obligated to talk about new stories, even though I knew that the day I spent with her at Box Elder didn't truly happen, I told her about some of my other siblings, those I met after South Dakota. Though I gave her the short version, I basically explained, continuing from where I left off from telling her about the places I've lived (again, even though it didn't really happen), that after my freshman year, my family and I relocated to Ramstein, Germany, where I would graduate high school three years later.
I told her about how I spent the first half of my sophomore year hiding my mutation from my classmates. I told her about how soon after I revealed myself, more and more of my peers were revealing themselves as closet animagi and eventually deemed me as Alpha. As a result, we formed an animal horde, well not at first, anyway. At first, it was only a small group of other werewolves calling me Alpha. However, as time went on, the Ramstein Pack got bigger and bigger, until eventually animagi of various other species began to join us one by one, making what was once strictly a pack of werewolves, into what we now refer to as our Horde. This was the public-friendly version of the story I gave to Raven. The truth of the matter was, much like how my Patriot Pack obtained their powers, 90% of the mutants that made up the Horde were born human, and the origins of their powers is much darker than what I implied, but I didn't think a date with Raven was the best time to share that. I did however tell her about a group of people I rather enjoyed talking about, my siblings.
I reexplained how I'd gained a great many sisters, brothers, and cousins due to both the military and mutant communities, and how we fought, trained, and lived among each other as a family for the three years I attended Ramstein High. Having already mentioned April, Sammie, Nathaniel, Amy, Isaac, Charlie, and Ximenez, and with both Dakota and Jadzia having also been met in South Dakota, I talked about two of my cousins, my other two brothers, and nine of my twelve unmentioned sisters, the mutants. My two cousins, both younger than me, consisted of a bald eagle named Monica, and a black swan named Keira. My two older brothers consisted of a white standard poodle named Seth, and an orangutan named Manny. As for the nine sisters, I had two older, and seven younger. The two older ones consisted of a saltwater crocodile named Sandra, and a platypus named Alexis. As for my seven younger sisters, three of them were she-wolves named Alyssa, Samantha B., and Kalynn. The other four consisted of a great white shark, a Siberian tigress, an anaconda, and a warthog named Samantha K., Selina (though she preferred to be called Dax), Amanda, and Krystie. I was about to mention my human siblings, when the announcement about the cafe closing was made over an intercom.
"Attention, Gothic City patrons: the time is now 9:00 pm. At this time, we ask that you leave the cafe immediately. Thank you for your patronage, and have a good evening", said one of the employees.
"Wow, and they were so polite before", I said sarcastically. Raven chuckles for a moment as I teleport over behind her again to pull her chair out for her.
"Such a gentleman", she says as she rises to her feet.
"I do what I can", I said with a wink, hoping that it would reference to when she winked at me a couple of nights ago. Raven then blushes as she pulls her hood back down and begins to walk towards the exit. Upon doing so, she pauses and looks back at me in a sort of seductive way. I can't really explain it other than to say she wanted me to follow her, and I sure as Hell wasn't going to ignore it.
I followed her out of the cafe, where she waited for me to join her. She didn't really have any other plans to take me anywhere else, as indicated by how we awkwardly, yet flirtatiously looked at each other as we stood outside of the closed cafe behind us. That said, I decided to take the lead as I walked around to her right, on the outside of the sidewalk, and led her to our left as we walked down the street. As we walked, we changed the topic of conversation to the whiny kids we were listening to. We wound up walking and laughing for about a good two hours or so, but because of how much I was enjoying just being with Raven, it felt more like minutes. We eventually come to a stop when we reach a string of hotels. I then take a page from Raven's book, at least the Raven from my Box Elder memory, and float up towards the roof of one of the hotels, stopping halfway to make sure Raven was following me, which she was.
The hotel I had chosen was about ten stories high, the roof was completely empty, and it had a great view of the night sky, making it the perfect spot to be alone with Raven. Raven and I then sat down at the edge of the roof, just as we had back at the Tower and just enjoyed each other's company for a while in silence. About a half hour later, Raven broke the silence.
"I must say, this is probably the most enjoyable Monday I've had in a while."
"Yeah, a lot of excitement for just one day. Feels almost like two days have passed", I say with a chuckle as a sort of inside joke to myself in reference how time slowed down when I was transported into the world of my memories. Raven giggles again before responding.
"You're more complex than you seem, Fernando."
"I hope that's a good thing."
"What I mean is, there's so much more to you than meets the eye. Your knowledge of Tamaran, the power you possess and the control you have over it, your tolerance of Beast Boy, you're full of surprises."
"That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about you."
"Oh really?"
"Absolutely. You yourself are an intriguing individual. I would love to hear more about your place of birth, this Azarath."
"How'd you know it was called Azarath?"
"Lucky guess?"
"Hmmm. Well, in any case, there's not much to tell. Besides, I'm of no importance to my home", she began in a sort of depressive tone, though she quickly played it off. "Unlike you, "Prince of Darkness"", she says with a grin.
"Naw, I'm just your average nice guy", I say jokingly as if trying to downplay the significance of my birth. "Speaking of", I begin as I look at the clock on my communicator in response to an idea I just had. It was 11:40 pm. "Be right back", I said as I slid forward off the roof and Changed into my armored form. I turn right as I fly towards the 50s-looking drive-in burger joint that was one block away and across the street from the hotel. It was simply called, "Burgers". "Time to make good on our deal", I say to myself as I come in for a landing in the parking lot. A few of the patrons gasped in shock and awe as they noticed the large winged wolf then Change into a person, but I didn't care, so I ignored them. I then walked up to the counter and ordered a small milkshake to go. Less than five minutes later I Change back into Gizamon and fly back towards the hotel, with the milkshake in my paw. In and out in less than ten minutes, BOOM!
"What's that", asks Raven as I hover in front of her.
"Milkshake Monday", I say jokingly with a grin as I hand her the milkshake. With her having no memory of the bet we made, I had to come up with an excuse for buying it for her. I had just finished Changing back to Blindimon and taking my seat next to Raven, though I was feeling kinda ballsy and chose to sit even closer to her than I previously did, when Raven took her first sip through the straw.
"Mmmmmm", she says softly, yet hypnotically and seductively. "You must grow tired of being right all the time", she says to me sarcastically.
"I take it you like strawberry then?"
"I love it", she says as she sips again. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this?"
"No need to. Like I said, I'm just a nice guy", I said as I leaned back using my arms to hold up my body. Raven then scoots toward me a little bit more, until our legs, specifically our thighs, were touching. In response to this I begin to react, so I then decide to sit back up in an attempt to hide it. This also turned out to be a benefit because by sitting up again, now our shoulders were touching. We were close enough to each other to where, if either of us really wanted to, we could lean our heads on each other's shoulder. My heart continued to race as it staggered Raven's yet again. I was nervous as Hell, yet I was happy and content with where I was. I was enjoying a nice, quiet evening with my crush, close together, under the stars, alone. What more could I ever want? However, like all good things, our moment together came to an end when I heard a familiar voice.
The voice was muffled, due to the distance, so I couldn't hear exactly what was being said, but I could recognize its source. The voice I heard was accompanied by the laughter of two others. It was Flash and his friends, and they were nearby.
"What is it", asked Raven as she noticed my ears twitching to the sound of their voices. Without answering her I Change to my wolf form and stalk over to another edge of the roof. Down below I saw the three college students pointing at something down the street and quietly laughing amongst each other. I look down the street in the direction that they are pointing to see the hospital we had passed on the next block. Walking out of the front door was a woman. The fact that she still wore her scrubs told me that she was a nurse, which I would've realized even without the scrubs, because I recognized the woman anyway. It was Liv, from the night Cyborg recruited me.
As Liv walks out of the hospital, she turns to her left and walks further down the street. It was at that moment I overheard one of the college guys down below whisper, "let's go". I then noticed that the three of them crossed the street and began to quietly stalk Liv as they began to increase their "walking" speeds, while at the same time making the effort to be silent about it. Assuming what might happen, though I hoped I was incorrect, I cloak myself in my aura and use my forced beholder spell to make myself appear invisible, though I was certain that Raven could probably still see me. Once I was concealed, I let out a loud howl.
Flash, his friends, and Liv all stopped in their tracks as they looked behind them trying to find the source of the howl they were hearing. Upon looking behind her, Liv noticed the three young men that were even closer behind her than before. It was at that moment that Flash and his goons locked eye contact with her. Flash then takes one more step towards her. Liv takes a step back in response. The three men take one more step towards her, and Liv responds by bolting. Even if her assumptions about the young men were incorrect, it wouldn't hurt her to run in this instance. Unfortunately, her assumptions were correct, as were mine. They wanted Liv for themselves. My heart began to race out of control as I stood there, frozen and unable to move.
Come on! Move it! Go already, I yell to myself as I jerked my body forward as if trying to get myself to move. Why the Hell can't I move, I asked myself, though I already knew the reason. It was because of what was going on. Though this wasn't the first time I had to deal with the crime of rape, it was the first time I was ever in a situation to prevent it upfront. Usually I was hunting down rapists long after the incident. This time I was watching it unfold in front of me. I was frozen because all I could think about was April and how she must've felt when this happened to her. I also thought of Krystie, and Keira, who both had similar experiences. I was angry, and panicky, but I couldn't move. Liv was about to scream for help when Flash finally caught her and placed his hand over her mouth. He then goes on to grope her as his two friends begin to tear at her scrubs. Still unable to move, I growl instead.
"Fernando, what's wrong", asked a now concerned Raven. I don't exactly know why, but hearing Raven's voice restored the strength in my legs as I let out a snarl and leapt from the roof. Before I hit the ground, I teleport over to where the humans were (those sick motherfuckers didn't even make any effort to move Liv to an alley or anything. They were content with raping her in the middle of the sidewalk). Once there, my claws start flying immediately. My claws sliced through clothing and skin like butter as I separated Liv from her attackers. The three men stood before me as I growled at them ferociously with Liv seated behind me (she had fallen over). From there I heard Liv break the silence.
"It's you", she begins as I look back at her for a moment. "You're that dog." I simply nod my head in response.
"Oh, snap! Look, Boss", says the gothic goon. "Those eyes", he says as he points at his own eyes for emphasis. He remembered my wolf eyes from back in the food court.
"You're right", said Flash. "Our friend, Hobo Guy." I growled at him directly in response to him saying that. "Awww, what's wrong, Baby? Did I hurt your feelings", he asks mockingly as he pulls out a switch blade. Either this guy was bold or he was nuts. The goon with the dreads spoke up next.
"Whoa, hey, Boss, we gotta get outta here."
"What", he asks him angrily, temporarily ignoring me in the process.
"We gotta go. The bitch was one thing, but this dude is crazy. Let's get outta here." Flash then nods his head and opens his arms as if asking for a hug. Dreads hesitantly walks up to him and embraces him. The third goon and Liv just watched at the sight of this random hug out of nowhere. As for me, I was suspicious of the whole thing. I knew they had a history and that they were friends, and I knew that Dreads was trying to talk Flash down, but it didn't seem to require a hugging moment, nor did Dreads comment about how it was wrong to attack Liv the way they did.
What are you up to, I ask in my head. Flash then holds the back of Dreads' head with his free left hand and pulls it forward so he can whisper in his ear.
"You think the hobo is crazy, do you?" Before anyone could even think too far into that comment, Flash then steps away, his friend's head still in his grasp, and slices his knife across his throat. The black man's corpse then drops to the ground with a thud as his blood sprayed all over Flash's face. He then turns back to me and Liv slowly as he licks his lips. "Who's the crazy one now?" In response to this, the other goon tries to bolt for his life. "Oh, no you don't", says Flash as he turns behind him to see his "friend" running away. With the quarterback arm he was probably known for and the accuracy and aim of freaking Hawkeye, Flash throws the blade at him. The goon's body falls forward as the knife stabs him in the back of the head, killing him. Before Flash could turn back around, I turn back at Liv.
"Run", I say to her as I was unsure what Flash would do next. Liv then nods her head for a moment before scampering to her feet. As she started to run, Flash begins to pull out another knife, because reasons. As he reached for his knife, he began to run at her, again, ignoring the fucking werewolf that was standing in front of him. Before he had a chance to throw the knife, I lunged at him with a snarl and bit down on his wrist, causing him to drop the knife. I then drag him to the ground as I shake my head violently.
With his free fist, Flash punches me in the eye, fortunately it wasn't enough to blind me, just make me lose my grip on him. He scampers back to the knife and picks it up. Liv was long gone at this point, and I could handle a simple knife, so I wasn't too worried. He then yells as he charges at me with the knife. As he slashes at me, I leap high into the air, pinning him on his stomach as I landed on his back. Once again, he dropped the knife in response.
"Stay down", I growled at him.
"Never", he challenged me. He then reaches into his sock and pulls out another knife and shanks me with it. I roared in pain as he rolls from under me. I rise to my hind legs, wincing as I did so due to the knife still being wedged into the side of my torso. As I pulled out the knife, Flash picks up his second knife and reveals a fourth one from his other sock.
"Honestly, how many of those things do you have?"
"Plenty", he says with a chuckle while he licks his lips again. As he did so, I took a look into his mind, and became even more disgusted from what I saw.
Flash was the star quarterback for the Steel City Tigers, adored and loved by his community and football fans in general. However, when the final whistle blew and the game ended, he and his friends lived a secret life of harassment. With every knew town he visited, he raped another woman, threatening to kill his victims if they snitched while convincing them that nobody would believe their story due to his public image. Another thing that stood out to me was the women he targeted. They all were "women in uniform". Excluding Liv, who was a nurse, Flash had his way with four victims thus far. A rookie police officer, a lawyer, a therapist, and newly recruited Airmen, who upon digging further into his mind, I discovered took her own life because of him.
It'll be a very cold day in Hell before I let this monster walk away free, I thought to myself with an angry growl. With more displays of his accuracy, Flash then chucks his two knives at me, each aiming at one of my eyes. Confusion, I think to myself as both knives freeze in midair only a few inches from my face. It was then that Flash finally started to take me as a serious threat. "Impressive. Now let me show you what I can do", I said as the two knives floated away from my face and turned their blades towards him. I then lifted my left arm out to my side while stretching the fingers of my right hand as it hung by my legs. In response to this, Flash's third knife floats up to join the other two, closely followed by his first knife as it is pulled out of his goon's skull. In response to seeing his four knives pointed at him, Flash finally decides to run. "Psychic attack", I shout as his body becomes encased in my aura, unable to move. Once there, I use my powers to position his body as if he was attached to that spinning wheel thing you see people strapped to at knife shows.
"No! No, please! Have mercy!" I ignored his cries as I prepared to fire the first knife.
"This one's for Krystie", I said in a serious voice as I snapped my fingers, thereby firing the first knife. It pierced right through Flash's right wrist, as if it was the first nail in a crucifixion. Anticipating Flash's screams, I quickly lift my wrist and touch the palm of my hand with my middle and ring fingers. In response to this, one of my spider webs shoots from my wrist and covers his mouth, muffling his screams of pain. Of course it's copyright infringement, but the truth of the matter is, my spider mutation allowed me to shoot webs from just about every part of my body. It was just more fun to take a page out of Spider-Man's book, especially since I was about to kill "Flash".
"And this one's for Keira", I said as the second knife pierces his other wrist. "And April", I continued as the third knife pierces his heart. I could see Flash crying as he wept over his untimely demise. He also tried to say something, but I ignored it. Most people I'd killed, I at least killed them with at least some form of decency or respect. As a natural-born hunter, I always made it a point to show some form of respect to my victims. However, Flash was so despicable that instead of showing him any respect, I wanted to instead make him suffer with as big an overkill as possible. That said, before I fired the last knife, I surrounded it with some of my electricity. I spoke once more as the volts sparked and danced on the metal knife. "And this one is for Liv, and all the other innocent women you've attacked. Farewell", I said finally as I snapped my fingers once more. The final knife pierced Flash's throat as his corpse shook from the voltage. When all signs of life had escaped his body, I released him. Soon after his body dropped to the ground, Raven broke the silence.
"Are you okay?" I was so riled up by Flash that I completely forgot about Raven, and now I worried about what she had just witnessed.
"How long have you been watching?"
"Since the first death", she said as she motioned over to the corpse with the dreads. My heart begins to race again, afraid of what Raven was thinking of me.
"I don't know what to say."
"Then don't."
"So, should I just turn my communicator in now, or…."
"There's no need."
"Really?" Raven simply nods her head. "None of this phases you", I asked as I motioned over the three dead bodies and the blood everywhere.
"Honestly, I've seen worse."
"Yeah, well, at least nobody views you as a monster."
"Not entirely true."
"What's that mean?"
"Let me ask you something", begins Raven, completely ignoring my question. "Why did you kill him the way you did? It's obvious this isn't the first time you've killed, and it's not the first time you've had to deal with people like him. What was different about this boy?" I took a deep breath before answering.
"I sensed something in him. Can't explain what it is or how I know, but something in him didn't seem right. I sensed a powerful darkness within him, but it wasn't like yours or mine. This one was evil. It was like all traces of innocence and purity were erased from his mind. All he knew was evil and hatred. I sensed it back at the mall, and I sensed it here, too. He differed from other men because I knew he couldn't change. It was too dangerous and risky to allow him to live. Does any of what I'm saying make any sense?"
"Yes, it does."
"So you're not upset?"
"I am, but not because of what you did."
"Then what?"
"I'm upset that this all happened tonight." She then offers me a tiny grin as she tried to remind me of the enjoyable evening we had up until that point. I couldn't help but smile back at her.
"You realize of course that Robin and the others aren't going to be okay with this, right?"
"I do. But that doesn't mean you were in the wrong."
"What are you saying?"
"That I will face the others with you. I may not have killed that man, but I allowed you to, so if anything I am just as guilty."
"Thank you." Raven responds with a nod and a smile, but it immediately disappears when she notices something behind me. Without turning around, I twitch my ears and listen as I heard the sound of groaning. Flash, he was still alive. "Impossible." I quickly turned just in time to see Flash throw one of his knives at me, only this time it was glowing red.
"Look out", screams Raven she teleports in front of me and summons a shield using her aura. The cloaked knife cuts right through her shield and stabs Raven in the abdomen. She groans in pain as she clutches the knife with her hands. The knife loses its glow as she falls to the ground.
"Raven", I shout in shock. Flash then throws his other knives at us. With another roar, I reduce them to ash with a barrage of Shadow Balls. "I'm fucking sick of these things", I roared as I fired a bolt of lightning from my palm. The force of my attack sent Flash barreling back a few feet. Unfortunately, due to him continuing to groan as he tried to get up, it was far from over. Fortunately for him, he wasn't my top concern.
While he was recovering, I scoop up Raven in my arms and move her across the street. Once there, I place her on the ground. I then placed my right hand above the knife, still in her abdomen, as I prepared to yank it. But before I did, I offered Raven my other hand, as this maneuver was going to her hurt her, and there was nothing I could do to prevent it. After she grabs my hand, I look at her as if to ask, "are you ready?". Raven, now looking frightened, nods her head, anxious to get it over with. I then rip out the knife as quickly as I could as Raven screamed in pain, crushing my hand as she did so.
As Raven struggled to catch her breath and I looked down at her abdomen. I saw the gash, and it was too big to pass off as a flesh wound. I still lacked the power to heal, so I revealed another secret my body kept, so secret that most of my associates didn't even know about it, and for those that did, I had them swear to keep it secret. I released Raven's hand and placed my left hand behind her head as I sat her up. I then sharpened my teeth and sliced my right wrist, encouraging blood to drip from it.
"Drink this", I said to her as I offered her my bleeding wrist.
"What…. what're you doing", she said. She was growing weaker by the second.
"It's a strawberry milkshake, just drink it", I said sternly due to my concern for her life. I then push Raven's head closer to my wrist as my blood begins to wash over her mouth and down her neck. She resists it at first, but eventually lets the blood trickle down her throat. I jump a little once the expected reaction takes hold of Raven. One minute she's drinking my blood calmly as she lets it drip, and the next she's grasping my wrist with her hands as she violently attempts to suck my veins dry. "Shhh, shhh", I say to her calmly as I forcefully, yet gently separate her from my wrist and lower her back to the ground. I was shocked by how quickly Raven accepted my denial of more blood.
You see, my very blood had healing properties in it, as well as in some other werewolf breeds, and the reason I keep it a secret was because the benefits from these properties came with a few catches. In addition to the instant healing, which was already beginning to work on Raven as shown by the fact that I could see the gash in her abdomen beginning to close, my blood was addictive. Whoever drink it, temporarily goes into a frenzy of an uncontrollable thirst. Once my blood touches your tongue, that's all you could think about, and the thought of not having any more drove you insane, as shown by how Raven basically attacked my wrist as she drank. The sensation that Raven felt was shared by vampires who couldn't control their thirst, which was why so many of them struggled to coexist with humans.
"Better", I asked Raven as she slowly started to catch her breath again.
"Better", she replies with a nod. I chuckle a moment before speaking again.
"How was it?"
"Not bad. A little too much on the sweet side though." The two of us laugh for a moment, completely forgetting that Flash was just across the street from us. It didn't matter though, he hated being ignored, and he made that very clear as he snuck up behind me, grabbed my shoulder, and threw me backwards. His throw was enough to hurl me back to the other side of the street. He ignores Raven and charges at me again before I even had the chance to get up. He then grabs me by my throat and pins me to the wall of a nearby building. I tried to Change or use some of my powers, but his hand was cloaked in that weird red aura again. I was trapped.
"It's time to finish what I started", said Flash with a chuckle. It was at that point I noticed that the irises and pupils in his eyes had completely vanished, and his voice was much deeper and more distorted than before. I growled at him in response, though I was in no position to be so bold.
"Let, him, go", said a now pissed off Raven with her hood up as she stood in the middle of the street behind Flash, catching the both of us by surprise. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos", she shouts as she fires a stream of dark energy at Flash. As he screamed in pain, his grip on me loosened, allowing me to Change into Mambamon and slither away. Flash then surrounds himself with the red aura again as he faces Raven.
"You've interfered for the last time!"
"No matter", she responded. "You won't be here much longer anyway", she said as she used her power to immobilize him. After that she lifts him into the air and pulls him towards her. "Go away, and stay away!" Raven then reveals her true nature. Her cloak, with her still in it, then sort of stretches like a shadow as if she and the cloak were one and the same. The bottom of her cloak then unleashes what look like a great many tentacles made up of her dark energy. She then unveils her hood to reveal that she had a large set of horns (that kinda looked like antlers), had four more tentacles (this time real scaly ones as opposed to the dark energy ones) growing from her hair, and her four, iris-less, red eyes made a return appearance. She then sharpens her teeth as her mouth stretches up and around all of Flash's head until his entire head was in hear mouth. She then snaps her jaws shut as she decapitates him. As his dead, now headless, body drops to the ground yet again, Raven swallows Flash's head whole. She then lets out a small belch, then lets out a demonic roar (that had a bit of a hiss in it) in victory.
"Raven", I asked as I slithered up to her. Raven then gasps as if she had woken up from a nightmare as her extra eyes, horns, and tentacles instantly disappear without a trace. She then begins to shrink back down to her normal size as her violet irises returned to her original two eyes. Upon doing so, she gets dizzy and starts to fall over. In response to this I Change back to my human form and catch her. She was still weak from Flash's attack. As I carried her in my arms, she looks back up at me, pausing for a minute before speaking.
"None of this phases you", she asks me as if scared that I would think any differently of her. I shake my head in response.
"I've seen worse." Upon hearing me say that she smiles once more before drifting off to sleep. Once she was out, her white aura from before began to encase her body. She was healing herself. I smiled down at her upon seeing this, fortunate and relieved that she was going to be okay. The moment, however, was short lived once I took a look around us. Three dead humans, one of which was missing his head. "Let's go home", I whispered as I lifted us into the air. I could've easily Changed into Gizamon or traveled faster, but I didn't want to wake Raven. She had been through a lot.