DarkWing (Final Editing in Progress)

Chapter 19

I let go of the cop, and he fell lifelessly forward. He had lost consciousness due to the pain. I ran to Drake who was still being shocked by the darts. I grabbed them, but they began running electricity through me too. I shook violently, but I couldn't let go. Have you ever stuck a paper clip in an outlet? Or touched a plug before you had completely pulled it out? It was like that. It was as if there was something pulling me, grabbing me, refusing to let go. Except it was worse, much much worse. I could feel the electricity ripping apart every cell in my body. My body acted without my brain's consent, and I wrenched the darts from Drake's back. The full force of the electricity was now flowing violently through me. I lost complete control of my body, and couldn't feel most areas of my body anymore. My eyes began to roll back in my head while my hands were still uncontrollably clutching the darts.

"KRAWK!" Death swooped down and snatched all three darts into her beak.

"Death! No!" I screamed. She ripped them from my grasp and I fell to the ground having lost all motor function. Death shrieked and she dropped the darts. She crashed into the ground and lied lifelessly on the sidewalk ahead of me.

"No!" I yelled. I was hopelessly lying on the sidewalk on my stomach. I couldn't move my body at all. My mind was still trying to re-establish a connection with my nervous system. Surrounded by dead and unconscious cops, I just looked like another casualty. I could see Death lying a few feet in front of me. I tried to think to her while one by one, ravens began landing around us. "Death, comeon girl, you're okay, get up." There was no response. There were about 5 ravens around us, just watching. "No... Please Death... Comeon, you're okay, comeon, comeon..." The tears began to well in my eyes, blurring my vision as a 12th raven landed. I crawled over to Death, pouring every ounce of energy and willpower that I could into my arms. I pulled my limp body over to her. I stretched my arm out to touch her, to help her, but I couldn't do it. My hand hovered over her, trembling. I couldn't touch her. I knew that Death had only been around for a few weeks, and was just a dumb bird, but she was my dumb bird. She understood me like no one else could, and she was always there, even when I was kidnapped by Corrector Corps. She was like a part of me, and now I had lost her too. It was too much. It was too much, and I was tired of it. I retracted my arm, and punched the ground, breaking the asphault and causing my knuckle to bleed.

"NOOO!!! KRAWK KRAWK KRAWK!!!" I screamed.

"KRAWK! KRAWK! KRAWK!" All of the ravens began echoing my squawk. It was a chaotic sea of raven calls as I forced myself up. I didn't care how hurt or immobile I was, my anger was driving me. I was looking at the ground as I had put all my strength into lifting myself off the ground. All the ravens continued to squawk as they watched me slowly rise. I was on my knees, hunched over with my fists on the ground holding me up. My body was trembling, not because it was struggling to function, but because my rage burned within every single cell of my body. My head was down, my tears dropping onto the asphault. Then a drop of blood. Two drops. Three. Five. Blood began dripping from my face, making a small puddle on the ground under me. I lifted my head, the ravens still squawking, and saw my reflection in a broken mirror that I hadn't noticed before. It was propped up against a brick wall right in front of me just next to an alley. My eyes were a solid ebony, tears streaming. My nose was bleeding profusely, a red river flowing. The veins in my arm and around my eyes were popping out and pitch black. I was showing my teeth, clenching my jaw. My wings were tucked in against my back. I spread them, reaching a menacing 14 foot wingspan. It was as if they had grown with my anger. I began to beat them powerfully, starting powerfully and slowly building speed. They beat faster and faster, until-

"DarkWing!" All the ravens went quiet. I turned my head to the right, and, looking past Drake, I found Jinx at the entrance of the alley I saw her go down earlier. "Please! What are you doing!" She got on all fours, and began to dash to me. I looked back at the ground, and one more tear fell.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered. I pushed off the ground, flapped my wings powerfully. I thrusted into the air. I shot up over the buildings and flew straight up, and all the ravens followed me. I flew through the clouds and stopped over them. I turned south, and flew that way. But behind me, I could faintly hear Jinx scream.

"DARKWING!!!" I couldn't turn back. I didn't know why, but I couldn't. Shadow was gone, Death was gone, and it was my fault.

"This is my fight now," I said to myself. "I'm sorry Jinx. I hope I will see you again one day." I paused for a second.  "No, I will see you again one day. When this is over. I'll be back."

In the air, you lose track of time. The peace, the freedom, the serenity. Running among the clouds, it's like a different life entirely. You could do anything, be anywhere. Up here, I felt free. I heard a strange noise. Over the deafening wind blowing past my ears, I could hear some sort of clicking. If I didn't know better, I would have said it was someone typing.

My wings ached. The sun was beginning to dip past the horizon. The sky and clouds were fiery, glowing a beautiful orange. I had no idea how long I had been in the air, nor how far I had travelled. The only thing directing me was my instincts, and they had been telling me to keep going. Something felt wrong though. Suddenly, the sound of heavy drums rolled in the distance. They started off very separate. A rumble, then a long silent intermission. Another rumble and a shorter, but still long intermission. A doubled rumble. Then even shorter intermission. It wasn't long before I realized that it wasn't drums.

"Thunder..." I whispered. In the near distance, I could see a collection of storm clouds, ominous, threatening. It was not a good sign, but my instincts were telling me to keep going. It felt as though I was almost there.

The twelve ravens stuck with me the entire way, even into the storm. A few minutes before we entered the clouds, I glanced at each of them. The ravens stared back at me, unafraid, trusting. They believed in me, believed I was making the right decision. I could see it in their eyes. They all nodded, understanding my concern. I turned my attention back to the storm clouds.

"Guess I got no choice," I said to myself. Now unquestionably determined, I sped up and flew full force into the storm.

Deafening thunder crushed my ears, as lightning flashed all around me, disorienting my senses. The ravens were nowhere to be found. All of it was frightening. The only thing I could cling to was my own volition, but even that was fleeting.

"AAHGH!!!" Lightning had struck my right wing. It was flaming and unresponsive to my brain's commands. I struggled with one wing, trying to maintain as much altitude as I could, trying to slow my descent. Lightning cracked around me. I dropped out of the clouds. It was hopeless. Another bolt of lightning shot my spine. I let out another scream as I could feel the immense heat rip through my skin, exposing the muscles on my back as well as some of my now charred spine. I spun uncontrollably, losing all sense of direction. My consciousness was fading quickly, as fast as I was falling out of the sky. My eyes shut, and my breathing was shallow. "No, it can't end," I thought to myself. "Not like this. Not yet."