You got a text around 30 minutes later from Mark that said that he and Nolan had gone off to do something else, and that if you needed anything, to text or call him. On one hand, you were glad of it, since it would give you more time to train. On the other hand, you wished he had come back, because without his interruption, that meant more training. And Bane was a surprisingly brutal teacher.
"Get up. You must try again."
Bane stood before you, his shadow looming over your hunched over form. You coughed, wiping blood from your lip as you stumbled to your feet, nearly tripping back to the ground. "How much- how much longer do we have to do this?" You panted, sweat dripping from you and mixing with the dirt that had crusted itself to your skin and clothes. "As long as it takes." Brows creased further. "The Grayson's- they'll get worried. I can't be out here past dark." Bane hummed, seeming to agree somewhat, crossing his arms and bringing a hand to his chin- or at least where his chin would be- pondering something. After a moment, he sighed. "Let us return so you may rest." You smiled, letting out a relieved breath of air. "Thank you." A pause and your smile fell.
"Uh, do you remember the way back?" You questioned, nervous laughter escaping you. Bane sighed, pressing fingers to his temples. "I will direct you. But you must be the one to fly." You nodded, giving him an "okay" as he turned back into a snake, snlithering around your arm and shrinking as he coiled back into his ring form.
Pushing off from the grass, you met with the starry sky. "Head east." He told you, to which you slowed to a stop, holding your hand up. "And which way would that be?" He sighed. "To your right." You smiled politely, turning right. "Thank you, Bane." He groaned softly in response, irritation of your training seeming to get to him.
"So, about the whole shapeshifting abilities..." The two of you had only been working on your death sworn abilities, such as causing death and decay. But you were more interested in being able to shapeshift like Bane. With how cool he looked whilst doing it, you couldn't help but want to do it as well. "Would I be able to give myself wings?" You questioned, rolling your back as though imagining having wings as you flew. "Yes, but shapeshifting is a process that takes time to get used to. Not just the transformation itself, but the adjustment to the shapes your morph into." With a slow nod and an "oh" you believed you understood.
A yawn escaped your lips, eyes drooping. "Can't wait to go to bed..." You muttered, your flight slowing somewhat. Blinking, you noticed an odd light coming from below you. "What...?" You squinted, rubbing your eyes. "Why is it getting bigger?" Your eyes widened as alarms went off in your head and woke your dreary self, bringing you flying away from the bright object. With a yelp you dodged to the side, a cylinder flying past you. Whirling back to face the ground, you scowled. "Hey! Watch-!" Another cylinder flew up and hit you dead and center, latching onto you and keeping you from moving. "What the hell?!" Unable to move, you began to fall from the sky, panic filling your chest. "Bane?!" You screamed, crying out for help. "I cannot save you from everything, Y/n. You can get out of this." With quick breaths you tensed, knowing what he meant. "Okay! Okay!" You said this to reassure yourself more than him.
Using the tips of your fingers, which remained just barely unrestrained, you felt around the metal you were cased within. Your body turned towards the ground, wind whistling in your ears as you barreled towards the ground. Banging and pressing your hands against the metal, you bled decay into it, rusted black forming in rippled blotches. The steel cracked, beginning to give way. You were so close to the ground now- the rust wasn't moving fast enough. Tears rose from your eyes, adrenaline pumping through you as you fought against the constraints, wrestling with them.
I don't want to die again.
You could reach out and touch the trees now.
I don't want to die again!
The leaves brushed your cheeks.
I DON'T WANT TO DIE AGAIN!
With a yell, you raised your arms, muscles straining as you broke from the metal encasing, steel cracking with loud booms as you escaped. Breath hitched with surprise, you curled into a ball, hoping to slow your descent. It worked somewhat, making it so that you hit the dirt like a cannonball, but you were unscathed. No scratches laced your skin. Only dirt and clothes- those of which had been ripped somewhat in the fall. Staggering, you climbed up and out of the crater, confusion and anger written in your expression. "Who the hell- why the hell?" Your eyes darted left and right, seeing easier in the dark than they had. Night vision? No- not quite. Either way, it was a big help when it came to seeing the perpetrator. A group of men with night-vision goggles, sitting in the dark with guns raised, one of them a cannon of sorts in their arms. It looked as though they had started to pack it away, but had stopped upon your landing- or crash. Its barrel faced you, and after a moment, the man arming it seemed to realize you had seen them, and fired. You dodged with relative ease, but you were quick to notice it was the same projectile that had captured you in the first place.
"Alright." You growled. "Who the hell are you guys?" The men opened fire immediately, to which you squeaked and turned away, holding up your arms as though they would protect you. No projectiles came to hurt you. Instead, when you turned back to peak, you noticed all of them were dead, Bane standing over them and readjusting his tie. "What? How did you-?" He held up a hand, silencing you. A comm still worked, and from it you could hear the words of a panicked man. Bane lowered to the ground, plucking it from one of the men's ears, and pressing it to his own. You approached him, curioos as well.
"Did you capture them? Exo-6, I repeat, did you capture them?!" You frowned. A curse sounded from the other end of the line, and it went dead. Bane grumbled. "We have to go after them. And this time, you will do the work." You shook your head rapidly, staring at him with a bewildered expression. "Hell no- I'm not ready for that! How did you even do that, anyway?!" You blinked, and he was wrapped around your ring finger again. "I will explain later. You know where to go, and you know what to do." Your pupils dilated, expanding until they overtook the entirety of your eyes, blackening them. "Yes, I do know." You felt high- hypnotized. The same feelings you had when taking down Wil filled you to the brim, thrilling you. Though you knew you'd have to ask Bane about it later- you weren't sure how you felt about this sort of odd control he had over you.
Jumping from the dirt with a thundering boom, you headed for the location. It was somewhere in Russia. You found the facility deep within mountains and under snow, buried and hidden away from all eyes. It broke with ease, giving you access. Red lights blared and alarms whined high, signalling the facility to your presence. Armored men ran through the halls, eyes settling on you. Heavy and loud guns were held in their arms. The moment they were in formation, they fired. But only a single round left their rifles as you ran through the wall of men, each one decaying in an instant, decomposing at varying levels that ranged to simple blackened skin and pale veins to fresh and bloodied skeletons.
You tread the halls in a casual walk, slowly making your way in the red light towards the center of it all. Every gunned man that crossed your path you'd simply dash up to and touch them with the tip of your finger and find them dead in the next instant. You drank up the souls and deaths of the ones you killed with a giddy joy that filled your belly with wondrous warmth. It kept your actions fuelled, and you found yourself feeling very little sympathy towards those you killed. As you drank their souls- their entirety- you knew the people you killed. And very few of them were good people. Good people don't end up in a facility such as this. An experimental place for horrible creatures of their own making.
You killed the mutations- most of them. The ones that were sentient and well off enough to move, you let go.
The next room you entered still shone with bright red light, beeping emanating from each corner and speaker within the room. Doctors and scientists were crowded within the large room, each one typing away on a computer and panicking. The one closest to the door turned to the door and his eyes met yours, and in an instant, he screamed, rolling back with his chair to get as far away as possible. His chair knocked into others, signalling the rest of the scientists of your arrival. Like panicked animals, they scrambled and crawled above one another to try and escape out the other door. You had mainly come for one man- the man that had sent Exo-6- but the rest had been involved as well.
Closing and locking the door behind you, in a flash you appeared at the next, blocking the scientists' exit. Another round of screams tore from the group as they clawed at one another, trying to escape you again. You closed the other door, leaving them trapped with you.
You slaughtered them all- all of them, but one. The man that had sent Exo-6. He would live to tell your tale.
__________________________________
Crawling from the snowy barrens, blood soaked, crimson stained the snow at your feet and the storm surrounding you. You barely shivered, hot with the life of those you had taken. The high was starting to leave you, and you were unsure of whether or not you regretted your actions. Your phone buzzed, shocking you from your thoughts. Taking it from your pocket, you grimaced, noticing the screen and your hands were stained with blood. Groaning, you pressed on the answer call button multiple times, trying to answer the call. "Just. Pick. Up!" Finally, the phone beeped, signalling you had accepted the call. Swiftly bringing the device to your ear, you smiled tiredly. "Yes?"
"Y/n? Where the hell are you?! It's 11- I've been calling you for the last 20 minutes!" You grimaced, drawing the phone from your ear, trying to save yourself from Mark's scolding and panic. "I'm fine, Mark. Really. Just ran into some.. Er... troubles." you laughed awkwardly, staring down at your form, which was red from head to toe, dripping and mixing with the white of the snow, bouncing slightly due to the contrast of temperature. You steamed in the cold. "What kind of trouble? Do you need help?" You shook your head, squinting. "What?!" You asked, taking a moment to process his question through the screaming of the blizzard wind. "Oh!-NO! No- I don't need your help. I'll be back in a bit. I promise." You tried not to make it seem as though you were yelling, and he seemed to buy it. Mark sighed. "Alright- sorry for panicking. I just didn't expect you to train for so long." You blinked, nearly forgetting that the day had started with training. "Oh! Yeah, right, training." You let out another nervous laugh. There was a pause. "What's with all of the static? And the wind? Where the hell are you?!"
"Alright, I'll see you at home! Bye Mark!" Hanging up, you let out a sigh, holding the phone limply in your hand. "Bane?" You asked aloud. "How do I get all of this blood off?"
You ended up rolling around in the snow, which melted most of it, but also washed away most of the red, turning the water pink as it tried to refreeze.
When you got home, the heat had worn off, leaving you cold and wet, shivering and dirty. "I need a shower." You commented, entering the front door and closing it behind you as you headed upstairs. After your shower, you changed into a new set of clothes, met in the hallway by a groggy Mark.
"Y/n? Where were you?" You sighed. "Sorry, long night. Bane really put me through the wringer." Mark tilted his head. "Bane? Who's Bane?" You paused, remembering that no one but you knew of Bane. "Nevermind, just go to sleep, okay?" He muttered out an, "okay" as you directed him back into his room, heading downstairs to collapse into the couch. Wrapping yourself in the blankets, you groaned softly, melting into the cushioning. Turning to face up again, your eyes met the gaze of another within the dark. You frowned. "Mr. Grayson? Don't tell me you were worried about me too." He shook his head, sitting across from you. "No. Debbie was, but I knew you'd make it out alright." You let out a hum.
Turning onto your side to face him, silence overtook the dark living room. "What do you want?" You questioned, more suspicious and on-edge about him than ever. "You smelled like iron when you got home. Like blood." Your frown deepened as your brows creased deeper. "And?" He crossed his arms, leaning back. "What happened?" It was more of a demand than an answer. You sighed. "Just had a run-in with some Russian soldiers." You replied turning back around so your back was to him. You felt his gaze burn into your back. "You did what you had to?" You huffed. "Yeah. I "did good" or however you phrased it the first time I killed someone." His own frown deepened- now you were beginning to regret killing those men more. The fact that you were only beginning to regret it was worrisome. Death was a numbed thing now- to you, at least. You were connected to it, so it didn't hurt you. It only hurt if it involved your own death, since you really didn't want to have to go through the Underworld and face the Dead King again.
The couch shuffled and the floor creaked as he stood. "Yeah, you did good." He repeated, emphasizing your own words, as though trying to make it sound better. His shadow loomed over you. "Just let me sleep." You muttered, curling further into yourself, not wanting to use any more time to talk to him. There was no sound, just the feeling of a presence leaving, and a lacking within the room. You turned to check, and found that he was indeed gone. A sigh of relief left you as you leaned further into the couch, shutting your eyes. Can't wait to train again tomorrow. You thought to yourself, sarcastic within your own mind.