Okay…
Shoot me, hit me, kick me, tie me up and roast me over a fire pit for a South Sea Swansea. I diserve it *head hung down in shame*
But on the bright side I'm FINALLY in college classes! YAY! That just means I'm going to be a bit slower from now on…maybe everyother week or so posts….that's why I'm so late with this…getting straight with school and then some health issues and then some family drama and then some more crap….yeah it's just been a stressful time….but fear not my devoted readers I have NOT forsaken thee!
So without further ado….
Here is the second to last chapter of My Name is Hate. If you still want to continue with that stupid song game thing I had going on…go ahead…I started it because of this chapter to begin with so I suppose it's only right that I end it here….hope you enjoy guys!
Song: My Immortal by: Evanescence
Ch. 12: Close Your Eyes
Duck landed in front of the ware house. He rolled his eyes at the smirking clown glaring down at him and walked in.
"Glad you could make it." Laughed a voice as the lights came on.
"Yeah, yeah." Duck said as Massive, Mastermind and Sypher all walked into the entry way from three sepeare doors. "Real scary, now where's my sister you pricks?"
"Isn't that just like heroes these days." Sighed Mastermind. "They never seem to appreciate all the hard work we villains put into our little shows."
"Cut the evil crap and let my sister and friend go already."
"Very well." Mastermind sighed. "Sypher, why don't you take him back to the others. We'll catch up with you after we're done playing our own games."
Duck didn't, at that point know, nor care, what the hell she was talking about. He sternly followed Sypher through the door opposite the entrence and down a long, narrow, hall that had cool air ventilating through it. It was dark and messy spider web tangles were hanging down from the walls. This must be the 'fear' section of the place. He thought to himself, remembering the words that had been above the clown's head outside. He prayed that his sister and Slam were alright. This place was enough to scar anyone who was venerable to spiders, snakes and clowns.
"Through here." Sypher called out to him.
"You're going to let them go, right?"
"Of course."
Duck followed Sypher all the way to a back room. This one was black, blood red lights lighting it up. Huge bloody letters on the back wall read: Torture Room. Plastic skeletons hung from chains on the walls, a dummy, obviously representing a still living person, had their eyes hanging down from their blank sockets, fake blood driziling down their elongated scared face, mouth opened wide in a silent scream, revealing only two very yellow and rotten looking teeth. Fake rats were littered around the floor along with damp straw. An iron maden stood in the far corner and next to the door that Duck and Sypher had walked through was a wrack, another 'living' dummy on it, at least one arm noticeably popped out of its socket.
"Family Friendly?" Duck asked aloud to no one in particular. "This place looks like a scene from Dante's Inferno."
"I'm surprised you're familiar with that book." Sneared Sypher. "This is the main reason why they had to stop using this place for the carnival. Too many kiddies were having too many nightmares." He cackled madly. Duck didn't hear the last remark. His eyes had fallen on two items right infront of the opposite door. A large cage, bars faintly glowing a light blue, stood in the corner opposite the iron maden and directly in front of the door was a chair. In the cage, Slam sat, looking trapped and frightened. In the chair, her violet denim jacket torn off so only the pale green tank covered her upper body, arms tied behind her back and blind folded was Marina.
"Dante's Inferno was a disturbing peace of work. Why on earth did you read it, Erin?" she asked, trying hard not to sob and sound like she could handle whatever hell she was going through.
"High school English requirement." Duck shrugged, his teeth clentched. "How yah olden up, sis?"
"Alright considering I'm tied to a chair, have no idea where I am and got ripped off."
"Ripped off."
"Yeah, that prick made me pay for our dinner reservations and I don't get so much as a stupid appetizer."
"I'll take ya out for a nice meal after we're done here." He promised. "The whole team'll pitch in."
"Aren'tI the one that's supposed to be buying you a dinner?"
"What for"
"For being a pride ass earlier."
"Don't mention it." Duck said, starting to walk towards her and Slam. "Let's just get you two out of here."
"I'd s-t-t-ttay –r-rright there if I were you." He froze as a pink pig came out of the shadows, pointing a blaster at Slam through his cage bars.
"Pinkster?"
"Oh, yeah, that's right." Sypher laughed, slapping his forehead. "I forgot to tell you, we have a new team member."
Duck glared at him as he laughed and Pinkster sneared from across the room.
"They were very nice to me." He said conversationally, his stutter as prominate as ever. "Promised me that they could break me out in return for information about you."
"I never told you about Marina." Duck spat out.
"You never had to." The pig laughed. "I saw you sneak down to the nur-nur-nur-nurs-nur uh, child's room plenty of times in the first month you were there. Not to mention you're nightmares."
"Nightmares?" Duck wasn't sure what the guy was talking about.
"Marina! I'm coming, Mermaid, I'm here." Pinkster was laughing harder now. "It was pathetic. You're face would be all screwed up, tears coming down. Didn't you ever wonder why I was the only one who would ever hang out with you No one liked me because I stole from them, but you, they just thought you were a cr-cr-cr-cr uh, whimp."
Duck felt his anger serge.
"We had a time tracking her down, too." Sypher said. "Ellana Carol Elwood, who'd of thought she was Marina Sheldon Duck. Good thing she changed her name again, huh?"
Duck felt like he was sinking into a terrible black whole. Marina, his precious baby sister, had been perfectly safe until he came back into her life. She had gone back to her name, and he had let her, not thinking that it might put her in danger. He was the biggest idiot on earth. Nice going yolk for brains. He told himself as Sypher walked over to stand behind Marina.
"It doesn't matter now, you're going to let them go." He said, trying to swallow his guilt. "Marina and Slam, that was the deal."
"Deal?" Marina asked.
"(What did you do, Duck?)" grumbled Slam, looking at him with horror in his soft devil eyes.
"Slam, you're going to take Marina back to HQ." Duck told him. "You're going to tell the others that the fighting is over, and then you're going to walk my sister safely home, explain to her parents that they don't have to worry about me anymore, and then you and the team are going to go back to HQ."
"(What about you?)"
"You understand me, Slam?" Duck asked, not answering the question.
"Oh, you really are thick." Pinster laughed.
"I think there's been a miss understanding, Duck." Sypher cackled. "Only one of them is going to be set free."
"You wanted me, I came, you said-"
"We said that we'd take you as payment, true, but we never said anything about letting both of them go."
"You lying son of a-"
"Now, Duck, I would keep my temper if I were you." Sypher laughed. "You really shouldhave seen this coming. I mean is common sence. You're VERY important for us, that's true. You however you did it, saved the rest of those annoying zoo attractions, even after we killed you. You made me look like a fool, stealing back your powers the way you did. If it hadn't been for your stubborn ass, we'd have won that battle. But even with all that going for ya man, you're still just worth one life. There for, you can only free one life."
"So, I have to choose between my sister and my teammate, and who ever doesn't get picked…" he trailed off, realization hitting him.
"Now the light goes on!" cackled Sypher.
"That's bull shit." Duck cried. He was thinking that all he had to do was say the name of one of the hostigages and then easily teleport to the other and save them before anything happens.
"The trigger will im-im-im-im uh, instantly be pulled after you make your choice." Pinkster said lazily, as if heknew what Duck had been thinking. Duck gritted his teeth. Slam was looking at him through the bars of his cage. Duck knew the poor guy had to be freaking out inside. He spent the worst years of his life in a cage, being laughed at and taunted by mindless, heartless monsters who viewed him as a side show freak. If Duck didn't choose him, and allowed him to die in a cage, Duck wouldn't be able to ever live with himself afterwords. But on the other hand, he had promised Marina, since she was little, that he would always be there for her. He had lost his mother, his father had taken his own life abandoning them, he couldn't loose her too.
You just had to be the hero. A voice said in his head. Don't you know what happens whenever you promise something? You promised that you wouldn't let your father leave you, and you failed. You promised that you would be a good protector, and you failed. You promised you'd save the team so they didn't have to worry about you screwing up, and that failed. You promised that you'd never let Marina get hurt, that she wouldn't walk away from you, and now that's failing. You, Erin Mathew Duck are nothing more than a giant egostisticle lyer.
He turned his eyes to Slam, looking him straight in the eye. The big guy had always been therefor him, even when Duck had tried to use him as profit in an illegal fight where Slam almost died. Slam never gave up on him, never told him he was a looser or stupid or anything. He was, on the contrary, standing up of him half the time, even if he was irritated with him. Slam was like that favorite cousin you messed with but wouldn't trade for theworld. Slam was his Tv buddy, his friend. The huge guy was family.
"Who do you choose?" Sypher asked, pressing hisgun a little harder agains Marina's head.
"Erin?" Marina's voice was thin, tears falling down from underneath her blind fold. He knew she was scared, that she was probably regretting more than ever that she had seaked him out. But, he never took his gaze offof Slam's face.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
"Erin!?" Marina was starting to sound panicked, like a little kid. And she was a little kid. She had her whole life ahead of her, go to college, become a robotics engineer, meet a GOOD guy, who would love her for her, respect her and treat her like the princess she was. Duck hated to admit it, but some part of him was hoping Rev's brother would be that person. At least it was someone Duck new and trusted. And she and Rip seemed to have some sort of connection.
"I'm sorry." He said again, stilllooking at Slam who was giving him a helpless, hopeless look of his own.
"Who do you choose?" Sypher asked.
"Erin!" Marina was begging, sobs coming out as the blaster tiltedever so slightly against her head.
"Marina." Duck said, begging for forgiveness from Slam with his eyes.
Sypher untied Marina who tore her blind forld off and clumbsily ran to her brother, blinking to try to force her eyes to adjust to the dim red light of the room. Duck stood there, waiting for her to reach him, waiting to hold her and tell her that it was okay, that she was okay, that he would take her home and Slam would be able to break free and they'd tear off the head of these monsters and take her home and that everything would end perfectly happy. But she never reached him. There was a loud POP, the smell of cold sterilizer like you'd smell in a hospital, and she was frozen. Her eyes were wide with shock and pain, tears still flowing down her face. Everything seemed to slow down, like the air had suddenly turned to molasses. Duck ran forward and caught her before she hit the ground. His yelling 'NO!' sounded faint and muffled in his hears.
"Marina." He whispered, fear gripping at his throat. He gently lowered them both to the floor. "Marina, stay with me."
"Erin," she whispered. "Erin it's cold."
"You're okay, Marina, stay with me, you're okay." She wasn't cold, she wasn't going to be cold, she couldn't be. The room was like a sona. He looked around frantically as if he would find a wool blanket or something just lying around. She held his hand tightly.
"Erin, don't go."
"I'm right here." He said, holding her tighter. "I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For getting mad, for not listening, for saying you weren't my brother." She was staring up at him, her huge blue eyes tortured with guilt. "I'm so sorry, Erin, I don't know why, I'm just stupid."
"Shhh, you are not stupid." He told her. "And I knew you didn't believe it, so there's nothing to be sorry for."
"Tell my parents I'm sorry." She whispered. "Tell themI never meant to hurt them."
"You can tell them yourself." He told her. "I'm going to get you help, you're going to be okay, just hang in there."
"Erin, we're too far away from anyone to help us." She whispered. "Tell them."
"Okay, okay, Marina, I'lltell them, I promise." There he went using that damned word again.
"And, Erin…" she was whispering a little softer now.
"Yes?" his voice was catching in his throat, no matter how hard he tried to force it out, to make it sound strong, like he was merely having a conversation over a cup of coffee with her and not saying goodbye for the last time.
"You can cry if you want. You've always been there for me. You've always been strong for me, making sure to do what was best for me. Now, it's my turn to be strong for you. You can cry if you need too, I'll be alright."
He looked down at her, her eyes becoming more and more distant, more blank. "Erin," she was giving a soft smile now."I want my mommy."
He stared down into her draining face. He heard those words reverberate inside his skull, as if she was bouncing them of the walls of his brain. Suddenly he was filled with memories. The night his mother was buried and their father had abandoned them. She had been sitting on a chair, her fingers in her bill, tears rolling down her face because she couldn't understand why her mother wouldn't wake up. "I want my mommy." She had cried out over and over again as Duck had tried to first stop his father from leaving then breaken away and grabbed her as he chased after him. He remembered riding in the back of a car, some suit behind the wheel telling them in an awkward tone as if they weren't use to dealing with greif stricken kids that it would all be alright and that a new family will love them twice as much as their own parents had. He remembered holding his sister's hand as they pulled up to the orphanage, got out of the car and walked into the shabby building for the first time. He remembered trying to keep a hold on her as they pulled her out of his arms. Her blue hair clip fell out of her bangs and had fallen at his feet. Marina had looked up at him as the woman was gently pulling her arm and had said, "Erin, I want my mommy. Where's mommy?" He remembered watching as she was taken from him, the clip was now clutched tightly in his fist. It would be one of the two most precious items he would ever own.
He blinked and her fading blue eyes swam infront of his vision once more. She smiled up at him as the light behind those dark ocean blue orbs grew smaller and smaller until it was just a pin prick. He blinked once more and it was gon
He felt the tears fall as he held her close, rocking a little back and forth as the very last breath in Marina Sheldon Duck escaped, taking her with it. He kissed her forhead and gently laid her on the floor in front of him, closing her blue eyes that were glassy from death.
"Poor baby wants her mommy." Laughed Sypher madly. Duck's blood boiled as he whipped the tears away. He glared up at Sypher and Pinkster, the first still laughing a little at his dead sister. He was about to race forward and knock all the laughter out of him, but another person standing next to them made him freeze. It took him a minute to quite register who it was. He kept looking back and forth from him to the empty cage. Slam stood between the two villains, his own gun still held out, a look of pure hatred on his face.
"(After all we've been through, and you choose her over me?)"
"Slam?" Duck couldn't believe it. This was unreal, he had to be having a nightmare, right? Mastermind had to have injected more fear potion into his arm, right? He continued to stare as the back door opened and Mastermind, Massive, Dale, a mouse he didn't recognize but knew had to be Tech's dead friend, and the rest of his team, his friends, his family, came in.
"So, ya did it." Ace said shaking his head. "Slam, ya got more nerve than I t'ought. I know ya said ya would if he chose her ov'a ya, but damn, d'at was a bit harsh don't ya t'ink?"
"What are you talking about?" Duck asked his leader, eyes wide with terror.
"Duck, you really are dumb." Lexi laughed.
"You're working…with them?" he choked out. He was still neeling over his sister.
"Duh." She laughed.
"But…you swore to protect the city, to fight on the good side."
"Well,-yeah,-Duck,-that-was-fun-for-a-while-until- we-realized-something." Rev told him.
"Yeah?" he said, starting to feel pissed. "What's that?"
"We get absolutely no respect for it." Tech told him. "No money, or thank you."
"We were at the bottom of life before our powers." Ace told him. "No respect then, no love or anything. We still rose up and saved those pricks who treated us like slime and we still didn't get any respect."
"What are you talking about?" Duck demanded again. "The mayer gave us a damn honorary plack!"
"Yeah, but you think she really meant all that?" Lexi asked. "She's a polotition, Duck, use your brains, what little ya have anyways. No one truly appreciates what we do. We risk our fricken lives and they're all like, cool, you're people with freaky powers, but we don't really want you near us in case you're contagious or something, oh no a bad guy is trying to kill me save us heroes! No one even asked us if we wanted this gig or not."
"But that shouldn't matter!" Duck roared. He was starting to shake from fresh sobs. "We're the GOOD GUYS! That's what makes us GOOD! Not kicking bad guy butt but doing it despite other people's reactions to us! If I gave up everytime I was denied respect I'd be stuck at home, never getting though school, never getting a job no matter how demeening, and I wouldn't have been out side and gotten hit with that ray that gave me powers! We had to fight to be where we are, and you all are just throwing it all away for what? Money?"
"Respect." Tech told him. "You don't know how it is having the whole world tell you you're a monster and can't do anything productive because of it. Even with all my hard work, I was still kicked around. I'm tired of it."
"So you teamed up with them, the very ones who've been trying to kill you and ruin everything you love, just to have world wide popularity?"
"Well, when ya put it d'at way, ya make us sound like heartless back stabb'n pricks." Ace said.
"YOU ARE!"
"See, this is why we didn't tell you." Lexi sighed. "You're so stubborn, you really are a goody two shoes."
"Yeah, I am, and that's a hell of a lot more than what can be said for you guys." He ran up and tossed an egg right Ace. Ace, the one who he always looked up to, the one who would never turn over to the dark side. Lexi shot a brain blast at him but Duck quacked behind her and punched her in the back of the head. Slam tried to retaliate but Duck just wrestled the gun out of the devil's giant hand and quacked once more to stand in front of his sister. He shot the gun at Rev who was running around the room, avoiding attacks. Duck aimed an egg at a spot right in the avian's track and it blew up, leaving a sticky tar puddle. Rev ran right into it, loosing balance and summer saulting right into the dummy with the torn out eyes. His head hit the wall behind the doll and he laid there groaning. Tech shot a blast at duck but Duck just ducked and the blast blue up the wrack in the corner by the door.
Massive held Duck down, trying to keep him still while Ace advanced, eyes glowing a vibrant yellow. Dcuk grabbed Marina's arm and teleported out of Massive's hold before it got to much to handle. He shot another pellet at Ace when he emerged behind the bad guys. Ace dodged it and it embedded in the wall, a frosty shine spreading from the point of contact.
"What kind of messed up gun is this?" Duck asked as he quacked out of a lunge from Tech.
"A frost shooter." Tech said, still trying to get a hold of him.
"A what?" Duck asked, still teleporting and trying to shoot Mastermind who was now joining the fray.
"It's a gun that shoots out plasma pellets. The plasma is designed to freeze anything on contact. That's how it killed your sister. She was frozen from the inside out." He laughed a little. "Fasinating what modern science is capable of, isn't it."
"You and your modern science can go jump in a volcano." Duck snarled. He once again teleported in front of his sister. He panted as he glared at the group of evil monsters in front of him. The room was smoking.
"You all deserve to burn." He growled, glaring at his ex team mates.
"Wel, maybe, but we'd rather shine d'an burn." Ace said, his eyes once powering up for a lazier beam attack.
"Rev, ya okay?" Ace was getting gingerly to his feet.
"I'm-alive,-if-that's-what-you-mean." Rev said, tears soaking his face. His eye was swollen shut, bruises covered most of his body and he was pretty sure he had a cracked rib or two. Great, just when they heal from the last battle he goes right back to square one. Did the bad dudes like seeing him in a full body cast?
"Can ya stand?"
"Yeah,-give-me-a-sec." Rev groaned in pain as he rolled over and pushed himself up to his feet. Mastermind, Massive and the fake Tech had all vanished. No explanation, just, "Well, we really must be off, it's been fun."
Ace put a hand on the mirror closest to him, a hand on his side. He felt a lot more two dementional for somereason. He gritted his teeth as he fought to keep balance. Rev spat out some blood, a small tooth flying out after the red jet of fluid. "Aww man," he said, "Tech owes me a trip to the dentist."
"Speak'n a Tech, we gotta find 'im 'n Lex 'n t'en try ta find Duck 'n Slam 'n Marina." Rev nodded and the two helped each other walk out of the exit door that was hiding in a corner.
"Ace, Rev, there you guys are." Tech called, carrying an out cold Lexi on his back. He had just walked though a door that led off the top floor of the glass floor room they had been in. Apparently that door, and the one Ace and Rev had went through, led to a back room that connected the two sides of the building.
"Tech!" Ace called, releaf in his voice. His eyes fell on Lexi, her face poking over the coyote's shoulder.
"She's fine, Chief." Tech assured him quickly, reading the concern in the bunny's eyes. "More than fine, she's amazing! Gave Dale a brain blast as big as the city, direct brain contact. Used a little too much energy, but nothing a good nap and big meal wont cure. Better than Dale, any rate. He'll never bother her again. He's pretty messed up mentally. She went over board, but whatever happened between them, she finally stood up for herself."
Ace smiled weakly. "D'at's Lex, for ya, I told ya she was scary when pissed."Tech looked at Rev. His eyes were imedeately soft with concern.
"Rev, you look like a prized boxing champion used you for punching practice."
Rev didn't say anything, he was looking any where but at the coyote.
"Rev, ya know he wasn't the one who-" whispered Ace, his arm over Rev's shoulders, being supported by the bird who was also leaning on him for strength.
"I know, that Ace." He mumbled. Ace looked sadly at Rev. Mastermind had played her cards very well. Even though Rev knew Tech was safe, the fact that the robot had had his shape was traumatizing. Ace gritted his teeth in anger.
Tech was looking confused and hurt. "Rev,are you alright?"
"Tech, we'll explain later." Ace said firmly. "We needa find Duck 'n t'em first."
They looked at a third door.
"Well, we came out of that door and you came out of that one." Rev said, first indication the one behind Tech and then behind him. "That one is opposite from the one over there," he pointed to a fourth door behind them, between the two theyhad walked through. "So, that one," he pointed to the forth one again, "must lead to the front door, and that must lead to the fear section."
"Worth a shot." Tech agreed, still trying to catch the bird's eyes. They walked through the door and down a short dark hall way. Ace opened yet another door and froze, Rev still holding onto to him.
The torture room was empty, smoke and broken dummies and torture devices being the only sign that a battle had occurred. An empy cage that was not part of the carny display stood at the opposite end anda turned over chair was next to it. A violet denim jacket lay on the floor, smoking and chared and looking black beneath the red lights.
"They're gone." Ace muttered, fear and pain and hate rising like venim in his body as he and the other two stared blankly into the room.