DarkWing (Final Editing in Progress)

Chapter 18

"MOM!!!" The noise rang in my ears, the loud piercing hum. I saw my mother's deathbed, her lying in it, sitting up, reaching out to me. The rest of the room was black, and I was being dragged away. I couldn't fight the force pulling me back. "NO!!! MOM!!!" I helplessly watched as her figure became smaller and smaller in the distance, the force pulling me back and the loud piercing hum being the only things keeping me company in this dark eternity.

"DarkWing? What is it?" Drake was screaming at me when I snapped back into reality.

"What? Oh... Sorry," I said. I realized I was staring blankly into space, drowning in my own thoughts.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I lied, but he nodded.

We both turned to our mysterious savior. The gun was no longer in his hands, but on the table. He was my height and around 40 years old. He had light brown hair and a receding hair line. He wore glasses with circular lenses and thin frames. He also had on a white trenchcoat with faint marks of dust and blood.

After a few seconds of sizing up each other, I opened my mouth. "Who are you?"

"Someone on your side," he said strongly.

"Why," asked Drake powerfully.

"I'm sickened by what this institution has become." Anger slowly began to resonate in his voice. "This used to be an organization devoted to helping people. Now? Now I don't know what it is anymore. It's... It's a playground for mad scientists, where humans are treated as disposable playthings." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "My name is Reve Noarse."

"Nice to meet you Reve, I'm-"

"DarkWing and Drake. Yes, I know who you are. I take it Jinx and Wulf are downstairs."

"Expected. A Corrector Corps employee knowing more than he should," said Drake. "Just goes to show that you're one of them." I'd never seen Drake so eager to jump to conclusions. He's always been so logical, but all I saw in that moment was hate.

"Drake, slow do-" I was interrupted.

"No, he's right," said Reve, now looking down shamefully. "I have worked for them for quite awhile, and although I was and am totally against everything this company does, I am not innocent. To keep my job, I've... I've done things I'm not proud of. I'm as guilty as everyone else that has lost their life tonight."

He now looked up and at Drake. "You four are famous. At least here you are. Four rogue experiments in the same city as us, who have the potential to take down every single brick and nail that builds this building. And you've done a mighty fine job at doing just that. I was hoping I'd get the chance to see it." Reve was now smiling, enjoying our victory more than we were. But soon his smile vanished, and he looked down again.

"You guys can kill me if you want, I won't fight it, I deserve it. I just want to help before I die." He looked up at me. "Shadow... She... Don't go after her. It's too late. There's only pain and suffering on the road you'll have to travel, and you won't like what you find at the end either."

"That's not an option," I said powerfully, showing how determined I truly was. "Shadow, she means a lot to us, to our group. She's family."

"But-" he began to say when I interrupted him.

"Do you have a family, Reve?" He looked down at a picture frame on his desk, facing him. I continued, "You said you did things you didn't want to to keep your job. I doubt you did it just for you. No, with skills like yours, you could have easily found another job. Sure, you would have had less pay, but still, easily more than enough for a single man." I paused as he looked down again shamefully. "We all commit our sins for one reason or another. You know you would do anything for your family, just like we would for ours." I saw that out from under his shadow-covered face ran a single shining tear.