Dating The Dark Knight

Chapter 42

THIRD PERSON VIEW

The journey to central Gotham was fueled with pure determination as Aphrodite raced on, making sure to keep her balance in the air. Unknown to her, the group of heroes had already begun the encounter with Xenos the night prior to her awakening; they had taken a beating but had also dished back pain twice as hard. Xenos didn't let up as he had also released hundred of inmates from Blackgate to keep his army strong; Batman had been injured by Xenos in his armored suit and had to shed the weight on the sideline of the battlefield while the others covered him. Xenos himself had fled from the battlefield as he unleashed more thugs on the heroes to keep them distracted; he had managed to destroy a large emergency transportation van at the extraction point, killing about 80 people in the process, fortunately, Batman's team prevented further damage and provided enough security for the rest of the people to safely evacuate the city. It was just about 10am and the team on ground had no sighting of Xenos again since he fled; they had continued to tirelessly fight off the swarm of thugs he sent in their direction but their resolve was slowly dissolving as Xenos hoped. He wanted to tire them out, make their bodies ache and their minds break, before he slowly and painfully killed Bruce, Kathy, Se'ir, Nightwing and Superman. Unfortunately, he had heard from his spirits that Aphrodite was finally awake but what he didn't know was that she was already on her way; he was both happy and angered that she was conscious once more and he had set out to find her. If he got to her before she could find the others, he could subdue her and place her under his control in order to use her powers against his enemies. What he didn't know was that she was almost in central Gotham and would soon catch on to the location of the others at the extraction points. The outcome of this struggle depended on her.

____________________________________________________

APHRODITE'S VIEW

As I began to close in on central Gotham, I slowed down out of pure shock when I saw the immense destruction around me.

"Oh my f**k!" I exclaimed as I looked around. Buildings were demolished, debris was everywhere, some vehicles were in flames and some were upside down, and the entire place was empty. Tears pricked at my eyes when the enormity of the situation finally hit me; innocent people had been killed and injured due to Xenos' heinous actions. "Hello?!" I called out multiple times to ensure that it was truly empty. I had no idea where to find the others till I felt a strange feeling of distress pass through me, initially, I wasn't sure how to address it but it came to me soon. I was linked to the elementals, especially to my brother, in a way that wasn't completely explainable but I knew to never ignore such feelings. I walked straight down the road, looking at the floor for any signs that could lead me to their location; I almost screamed for joy when I saw distinct tire marks on the ground and knew only one deluxe vehicle was able to make it, the batmobile. I took to the air again as I followed the tracks, unsure of what I would seen ahead but preparing myself for the unexpected nonetheless.

_______________________________________________

ARES' VIEW

We had been fighting for hours now and we were getting exhausted. We had fought Xenos earlier and he had managed to hurt everyone badly except Analise, Eric and I; although we didn't get handled as harshly as the others, we didn't go without our dosage of pain. More and more thugs continued to erupt and as much as I was trying to handle them non-lethally, I lost my sh*t when a thug plunged a blade in Analise's left thigh. Nothing stopped my flames as it engulfed him completely, killing him quickly and sending a warning to the others. I received warning looks from Batman and the others about my methods and I was a bit upset that I allowed my anger to get the better of me but it didn't stop the wave of satisfaction that washed over me.