Chapter 4 – Forgiveness

"Wait, you what?" Ducker asked calmly as Terrance told him what had happened. "Look, I'm not an idiot!" Terrance said, "If I grab that skull or even go near it, I'm a dead man!"

"I realize that!" Ducker said, "And I commend you on your efforts, but what gave you the idea that shooting his head off was at all a good idea?"

"It was either that or let him eat us alive while your new Senshols figured out how to recall a teleport." Terrance said. "They were ill prepared for this emergency sir!" Kelly said to him. She wore a similar outfit to the Senshols, but hers was colored light blue and had a badge on the left lapel shaped like a star. "Thank you Ms. Nortlund I was aware of that." Ducker said. "Then you can't really condone him for his decision, it kept him and his partner alive. Isn't that the most important part?" she said. Ducker fell silent as he looked to her, his mouth opening and closing as if to try and find an answer, "You may go!" he told Terrance. The human walked right by his superior, making his way to the door, "Oh and congratulations…" Ducker said as he turned around, facing the back of Terrance's head, "…on acquiring your personal goal!" Terrance smiled as he began walking again, meeting up with his cheetah in the hall, "So, how'd it go?" Tasha asked, her vest had been removed and stashed somewhere. "Great, and just for the record, I'd like to see Nightmare's head go flying again someday." he told her. Tasha smiled, chuckling as they walked away, "It was like a dream come true." she said.

Bolt and Mittens made their way through the streets, searching for traces of the skull or even a hint of something to lead them to Nightmare. Every once in a while, Bolt would jump up and down, moving side to side as if he were playing a game of tag with an invisible friend, "Oh, I needed this!" he finally said in a sigh. "You and me both!" Mittens said. "Don't get me wrong, the training room was fine, but there's nothing like the outside world!" Bolt told her. Mittens chuckled at his response, though she had to admit, he was right. They both had needed to get out of the HQ. "Smell that air!" Bolt said and took a large whiff before chocking on the foul smell. "ULGH!" he groaned, "What is that?" Bolt and Mittens turned the corner, finding a pail of garbage, and a single human skull that had flattened like a puddle of mush. "Uh, oh!" Mittens said as the two of them looked over the human mess of bone, "Looks like Nightmare found a new host!"

"Yah!" Bolt said as he nudged the liquid bone with his paw, "But of what? He's already devoured the whole city!"

"No Bolt, he's devoured the people in the city, not the animals!" Mittens said as she watched a few rats rip open a bag of garbage. "A rat?" Bolt said, "He's masked a rat?" Mittens nodded to him, "Yah. I think so." she said, "What kind of powers do rats give him?" Bolt simply shrugged his shoulders.

Deep under the city, roaming the sewers, Nightmare stormed off, searching for something he wanted. With a growl, he turned his head, "Which way was it?" he asked himself, and used his tail to snatch up another rat from the ground, "I may not use much energy with a single host body, but that doesn't mean I'll just waist my energy!" he told the rat as his tail put it in front of him, and he opened his mouth, tossing the helpless creature into his throat. He gulped hard, swallowing the rat whole. Suddenly he cringed, and turned to his side. The flesh warped in one spot as his bones separated, allowing something else to emerge. From his side, the rat he had just swallowed emerged, the flesh pulled from its body, and the bone surrounding the grey muck that accompanied it. Down came the strange creature, flopping to the ground before looking to him, as if asking for instructions. "What are you?" he asked, "More pray for me to eat?" Without a sound, the new creature took off; snatching the nearest rat he could find and dragging it back to Nightmare. It didn't look proud; it wasn't waiting for anything other than the beast to take the prize. Nightmare looked to the creature in surprise, and gently took the other rat from it, holding the squirming animal high above his moth before dropping it and swallowing again. Just like before, another creature identical to the first was born from his side. "Hmmm…" Nightmare thought, and turned to the two of them. "Back flip!" he said. The two creatures jumped into the air, tucking their skulled heads behind themselves and tumbling in mid air before landing on their feet. One could almost see the smile on Nightmare's skull face, "Minions!" he said to himself, "This body discards the parts of a creature I don't need and puts necromancy into it, I control the corpse." He placed a clawed hand to his chin, thinking until he found a plan, "Get me more pray, as many as you can find!" he said, and the two of them ran off, quickly grabbing rats by either the tail or the neck and dragging them to him. He quickly swallowed them and produced more minions, "Go help your brothers!" he ordered, and the two new ones ran off to help find more rats. "I'll make a small army, and find that secret lab before I put my master plan into effect!" he said, and his two red eyes began to shine with malice, "I think I'll keep the rat as well, just for the whole minion ability!"

Bolt and Mittens reappeared in Tarnildra, both of them hanging their heads, "I hate clean up duty!" Bolt said as he let his ears plaster themselves against his head. "Just be glad we got out of the base!" Mittens said, "The fresh air was great, and the sun did wonders for my fur."

"I'll say!" Bolt said smoothly as his ears lifted back up, "You look like you're glowing!" Mittens blushed under her fur, "Thanks Bolt, that's sweet!"

"No time for that dumbasses!" they heard Dustin say, and turned an angry glare to him. Dustin simply ignored the look, and kept on speaking, "We just got an alert in several different areas at once, it looks like animal reserves and zoos have been raided of several animals!"

"Animals?" Bolt asked, "You mean he's done with humans?"

"Who cares?" Dustin asked, "Just get down there and get to the bottom of this, Ducker wants to know what Nightmare's thinking!"

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE THAT OUT?" Bolt asked angrily. "Hey, I'm just handing out orders, jackass! The O-TIP is prepped and ready for you!" Dustin said, and turned to leave. Bolt sighed in frustration, "I'm beginning to hate that guy!" he said. "I'm already there!" Mittens said under hear breath as the two of them made their way to the platform. He looked up just in time, to see a familiar face, one with a look of confusion and curly brown hair that draped all over her head. "Hold on one second." Bolt said, and moved closer to her. She knelt down to him as he neared, reaching her hand out to pet him, "I'm really sorry!" he whispered to her as she gently rubbed the top of his head with her palm. "For what?" she asked. "For hurting you, for taking your memory, for…" he continued, and paused, not sure of what to say next, "…everything!" She leaned in further, wrapping her arms around him and dragging him closer to her, embracing him in a welcoming hug. "For what' it's worth, and whatever it is, I forgive you Bolt!" she said, and released him from her embrace. At first he was surprised, but slowly he broke into a smile, feeling the weight from the sin vanish.

Inside his mind Dark Bolt smiled evilly. Suddenly he heard something groan, like metal being stretched, and his smile got bigger. The top chain on the pile snapped, a decent sized one with thick links. The center link just broke and both halves fell to the floor around him, before shattering on the ground and disappearing. "Yes Bolt!" he said under his breath, "Keep apologizing! The lighter you're conscience feels, the closer I get to freedom!"

When Bolt and Mittens appeared, the Zoo was barren, walls were chewed through and animals were either missing or in a bloody mess on the ground. "Oh gosh!" Mittens said as she tried to hold back the urge to hurl her lunch. Bolt looked around, trying his best to hold the same feeling in, "How could this have happened in such a short time?" he asked, "From the report on Tasha's zoo, it took several hours for Nightmare to do even half of the damage this place has!" Mittens gulped down the bile in her throat, and walked up to her husband, "He also devoured everything he touched, why are there some carcasses?" she asked. "I don't know!" Bolt said, "But we'll need to keep looking around if we're to find out." Mittens slowly nodded, and walked as close to him as she could, turning her head from the dead ostrich in front of her.

The search proceeded smoothly, except for not finding any clues, "I just don't get it!" Bolt said as he looked into what used to be an elephant pen, "What happened here? It's like something chewed through just about anything that was in their way or trying to escape!" Mittens turned her head again as she looked into another pen, finding a half eaten giraffe lying next to something else. She couldn't hold it, she turned and threw up right on the spot catching Bolt's worried attention. "I'm ok!" Mittens said as she tried to catch her breath. "Wait!" Bolt said as he looked up from her. She turned back to the mess of flesh, and found the head moving, almost like it was being lifted up by something. "Oh, my!" she called out, and pointed to the door, "Break it down!"

"What if it's what ever did this?" he asked cautiously. "Then we'll stop it, but I'm pretty sure I know what it is, now break it down!" she ordered. Bolt turned to the door, and opened his eyes wide, letting the streams of green heat cut through the edges of the door. When he was finished, he pushed hard, toppling the new opening to the ground. Mittens wasted no time, she darted out into the pen as quickly as she could, and now Bolt could hear it, the silent whimpering of a familiar cry, the cry of a baby animal. "Oh man!" Bolt whispered to himself as he made his way over to his wife. There they both found a small baby giraffe, curled up as best as it could get. It opened its eyes when it sensed their approached, and seemed to try to curl further into the dead giraffe. "Nightmare!" Bolt said as he growled to himself, "I'm gonna make you pay for this!"

End of Chapter 4