The Spiralling

Chapter 6: An End at Dawn Part.2

"Wait... Remove my mask first; we can't afford to be seen this way."

"Oh yeah..." By mask, she was referring to uniform. I did as I was told. Hit-Girl had always been right about many things anyway, considering her skills, knowledge and experience in the vigilante trade. Pinching her face band around the nose area, I gave it a tug, tried to slide it over her head slowly to avoid hurting her neck any further, "What... The... Fuck?"

It was then that I found out that her face band was part of her face, or that her face was her mask. I pulled it up even further slowly, stricken by fear and bewilderment- I dared not pull it up too fast unless I want to see how a naked skull looks like, yet she didn't appear to react to her face being torn off, so I gave a rough tug, and off came Hit-Girl's face, and underneath was the Demoness...

"Surprised?" She asked rhetorically before proceeding to bite me in the neck, her metal fangs sinking deep into my Jugular vein, and I screamed like never before, not from the pain but from the terror of finally feeling how it was like to be a vampire's victim...

I bolted upright in bed, feeling the same terror and pain as in the nightmare I had experienced. Yep, it was all a dream, some odd product from a mix of fighting the Demoness in real-life, getting the snot beaten out of me with half the blows aimed at the head, and some serious thinking I dedicated towards my new nemesis.

I was never a dreamer. My sleeps were, for years at a time, a black void. Once I fall asleep, I would wake up the next moment finding out that I was nearly late for school. Yet, this time, it felt like Nightmare on Elm Street- so vivid, so not random. It seemed meaningful, unlike the last dream I had of Barney the dinosaur and Elmo from Sesame Street duking it out a few years back when I was so much younger and less obsessed with superheroes.

'Just a dream', I thought as I tried to forget the blood and violence still quite fresh in my head, 'Just a more realistic version of Barney versus Elmo.' Looking at the time, I realised that it was still early at 8am- my father should be back anytime now, and going back to sleep was not an option as my head was throbbing like Superman's with Kryptonite. Automatically, I reached for the remote control and switched on the television- it was a superhero's reflex, to update myself with new intelligence so that I would know what to do next.

"-Was just a typical midnight on Skyscraper Benson when office workers burning the midnight oil heard gunshots and called the police. What the cops responding to the call found was not typical mob activity however." The news reporter in the set said before the scene switches to the same rooftop that Demoness and I was on.

"We found 4 dead bodies, one belonging Red Mist and the other 3 were his paid thugs. The evidences suggested that they were killed by a vigilante aged anywhere between 10 to 16, though she'd have to be a small 16." Coincidentally, it was Sergeant Marcus on the screen as public relations- he was most likely in charge of the crime scene. Behind him, several policemen were busy putting up tapes, lights and canvas to preserve the evidences and crime scene, "Beside the point, we know that home grown superhero Kick-Ass and the vigilante Hit-Girl are involved."

"The police had released the CCTV footage of the confrontation in the hopes that the public could aid in the identification and capture of the girl who took the law into her own hands. Be advised, the video is deemed to be violent and disturbing..." The news reporter continued to read off her script underneath the camera before the television switches to the footage she was babbling about...

The camera was just above the entrance to the rooftop floor. The time was shown as 11:50pm when three masked thugs entered the arena in a single file, one sporting a shotgun and the other two holding pistols- typical unwitting crooks that could be found in any comic books or real life gangs. Like SWAT cops, they fanned out in and off camera. When they were done, they stood guard flanking the entrance, which was when Red Mist appeared. After briefly surveying the roof top almost like how a mob boss would, he turned to his men.

"Now we'll just wait for that loser to come. When he does, just jump on him but don't kill him! I want to beat the crap out of him before..." Red Mist nodded in the direction of the guy with the shotgun, "I let you blast that fucker's face so even his momma won't recognise him." After reminding his men of the plan, Red Mist strolled over to the ledge opposite of the entrance, sat down and smoked a cigarette. Red Mist was holding a Katana- from previous pictures shot that included him, it was his trademark close range weapon.

It was 5 minutes later when the Demoness showed up- the news programme had accelerated the footage up to just before she appeared. There was a sudden flash- probably from a flashbang, before the albino entered through the entrance. With her dual pistols, she shot and killed the first two thugs on opposite sides of the entrance while they were still recovering from the blinding effects of the flashbang. The third hired gun, the one with the shotgun, trained his weapon upon the ghost girl but missed as the vigilante, with her hands and pistols forming an X, had knocked his gun upwards, so the shotgun pellets went overhead. Using the milliseconds she had, she then proceeded to gun him down using most of her ammo incessantly, unloading an uncountable number into his chest, missing his heart perhaps on purpose, before putting a final bullet in his head.

Red Mist pulled out his own pistol, a rather huge silver piece, but he was too slow- After dispatching of his lieutenant, she fired a bullet at his piece, knocking it out of his hand. It was at this point that I realised that everything she did was always for a dark reason- and she loves to get up close and personal, and she adores inflicting as much distress and agony as possible.

"Hit-Girl? Kick-Ass sent you, didn't he?" Red Mist jabbed his finger at the darkly dressed superheroine, or more appropriately, his fellow supervillain. He was more angry than afraid, a huge mistake on his part.

"No, I'm not that pussy." The Demoness said as she holstered his pistols and drew out her right sword, holding it with both her hands, mirroring the only weapon Red Mist had left- his trademark Katana.

"Then who the fuck are you?" Red Mist unsheathed his own sword, a large Katana that his father left behind, throwing away the sheath without a care except to destroy the albino before him.

"Me? I'm your worst nightmare." With that, she charged at Red Mist, her sword held diagonally downwards, ready to slash upwards from below, which was what she started the fight with. Red Mist blocked it expertly- he had been training. For the first 10 seconds it was a perfect match between the two costumed kids, but after those 10 seconds of chaotic harmony, the Demoness was able to land a small cut on Red Mist's left upper arm, causing the young mobster to yelp in pain. As if a referee had called for a short break, they backed away from each other after that. Red Mist was cupping his fresh wound while his enemy was grinning, as if she could taste the pain she so enjoyed.

"You'll pay for that!" Was Red Mist's battle cry before he jumped back into action with his Katana over his head. Running head long at the Demoness, he swung his Katana straight downwards at her, but missed when the latter jumped backwards effortlessly, as light as the wind. Undeterred and unlearnt about his enemy's skill, he took another swing at her, but was given a clean cut through the muscle in his left upper arm, rendering it lifeless. It all went downhill from there. As if drugged, the Demoness went full out with Red Mist as she began to snicker at her food.

Red Mist was starting to back away, which was the very first wise thing he did- the Hit-Girl knock-off took two hacks at him but missed by bare hair widths when he did so. She shifted her stance and placed her razor-sharp sword over her head, bringing it down on Red Mist, who blocked it but had his Katana knocked out of his right hand- one hand was simply not enough to withstand the powerful blow. Suddenly finding himself unarmed, Red Mist took off for the exit, but on his second step, his left calf was split in two by the Demoness. Needless to say, he fell face-first onto the cement floor. His torturer proceeded to stab him in the shoulder blade before kicking him around the ribs to turn him over.

"I'll have it for free." The Demoness started cutting him up. Despite the cctv archive video's poor quality, anyone could tell that she was enjoying every second of it. Christ tried to shield his face when the Demoness aimed a slash at his face, but she severed the feeble limb anyway before slicing his identity up. By the time she was done, he was unrecognisable, and had his chest not been rising and falling in a half-dead rhythm, anyone would think he was KIA. Regardless, the girl went on to straddle him around the chest before delivering her KA-BAR into his throat. This was where I came in, and out like a first-timer superhero. I'm sure this part is familiar so I will skip it. One thing that almost stopped my heart was when my mask was removed- thank God for low-quality CCTV security cameras. Much hoo-hah was raised about this, but everyone considers this 'clue' to Kick-Ass' identity impossible to use.

After the cctv video footage was shown, the news program returns to the familiar set of the newswoman where she continued to articulate the story to most of New York, "Who is this second young heroine, and does she have anything to do with the elusive Hit-Girl? Official sources say she could simply he Hit-Girl, or a mercenary in the service of a rival gang. Despite her hand in essentially crippling the D'Amico crime family, the police are openly condemning the young vigilante, citing her violence against Kick-Ass as an example of how vigilantism out of control could destroy law and order."

"In related news, the action up on the rooftop of Benson Skyscraper has unmasked the city's first superhero turned supervillain, Red Mist. The criminal in leather tights had been notorious for street violence and high profile crime such as the robbing of the Bank of Asia- an estimated loss of US$5 million was reported. Investigations had lead to the conclusion that he was in fact the notorious Frank D'Amico's son, Chris D'Amico, based on DNA analysis and dental matches." The newswoman droned on articulately. It was old news, stuff that I already knew. In the back of my mind, I was screaming for the TV to give me something that I did not know, such as a clue to the whereabouts of the Demoness so that I could either avoid her or as my dream suggested, plot against her with Hit-Girl's help. With Red Mist six feet under unexpectedly, I had found a new nemesis, and it was not for the sake of just having someone to fight against.

The Demoness was bat shit insane, a total nut bag that cares little about who she kills, no matter how good or bad they were. I'm the meek sort, and human life isn't something to play with. The Demoness was the complete opposite, and if I don't stop her, who will? The police? Sure, they could stop her, but they would every tiny bit of help they could get- besides, it was my life on the line as well. 'Let's just say you're supper...' Was what she said, which meant eventually she will work her way towards me.

Hazy memories of my nightmare was starting to crawl back up to me- the way she easily steamrolled over Hit-Girl the way a rather graceful tank would against a rat stuck in a mousetrap. The way she bit into my neck with her metal fangs, which I believe exists in her real sailor mouth as I had caught a glimpse of it during my losing fight with her, was what I so do not want to happen. She was a real nightmare, and she will be the same object of fear to millions of other citizens unless I stop her.

"-The police expects crime rates to fall after this mixed blessing, but is aware that the D'Amico remnants and new bloods are still at large, and so are the unlawful vigilantes Hit-Girl and as the police now names her, the Demoness, after her biblically sinful tendency to drink blood and hurt or kill with pleasure-"As if by divine intervention, the police and me are on the same tangent- we called the Demoness the same thing. I hated how they were demonising Hit-Girl as well however, "-The public is warned to report any suspicious individuals and activities that may be related to these two under aged 'superheroines'."

After watching the news turning its big headed attention to a man with a testicular tumour that bloated the size of his privates, I switched the television off in quiet contemplation. For ten minutes I sat there, watching the morning sky behind my windows- no plan came into mind, other than a simple street patrol by night, and research by day.