The silence after Gethsemane - Blood Obsidian - Epilogue
The rain cooled and cleansed as it fell upon the mourners. Caitlyn didn't try to count, but, with a crude estimate, she guessed over two hundred people had come to pay their respects to Chief Jim Watson. Many of the mourners were the man's colleagues, giving the accepted, traditional send off to a man many of them looked up to as one of their very best. After the gun salute, the folding of the flag, passed on to his daughter, Stephanie, the lone piper began to play. Amazing Grace. A beautiful piece of music made only more poignant by the mournful instrument.
Alaina's hand squeezed Caitlyn's as they both stepped in line to lay their respective flowers upon the casket, passing by the portrait of Chief Watson in full dress uniform, the black band across one corner. As they moved on, Caitlyn stopped before the statue of an angel at a neighbouring grave, the wings folded, hands held out in supplication, head bowed in deference to the grave the angel guarded for eternity.
She watched as Aunt Mary passed, giving her a little scowl, followed by a tight smile. For days after the events at Ald-Tech headquarters, Aunt Mary had sat in silence, only breaking the silence when the news mentioned Chief Watson, saying how much she respected the man and how much of a loss it was for the city. Caitlyn knew well that cost.
"I can't believe she grounded you. A month? Grounded for a month after saving her, us. After saving how many people? Grounded." Alaina shook her head and then nudged Caitlyn as Kyle filtered past, leaning on a walking stick, accompanying a man that looked like he had eaten a weights machine. "So, tell me. Bohemia City boy breaks an arm and a leg. Is he ... you know ... a you-know-what?"
"A 'you-know-what'? What's a 'you-know-what'?" She held her face straight as Alaina jerked her head toward Kyle, widening her eyes and wiggling her eyebrows. She knew exactly what Alaina meant. "A rich boy that, apparently, can't ski very well? I couldn't possibly say even if he was, so if I said 'no', you wouldn't know if I was telling the truth or keeping a secret. That's how complicated these things are."
"Well, I'm so glad he's not your type. When I find out which college he's going to, I'm stalking him. In a not-at-all-creepy way, of course. Not completely creepy. He will be mine. Oh, yes, he will be mine." She let out a low, throaty growl and Caitlyn couldn't blame her. Kyle was good looking. For a man. "Can we get out of this rain, now? I'm all for showing respects but if there's a million things I hate, having a wet bra is up there in the top hundred thousand."
"You go. I think I'm going to need a minute." Another squeeze. Alaina knew super-powers didn't heal all Caitlyn's wounds. "I'll catch up."
Their hands parted and Alaina bounced away, despite the occasion, toward Aunt Mary, turning her away and taking those watching eyes from Caitlyn, as though Aunt Mary expected her to change to Blood Obsidian if she didn't watch her every minute of the day. Caitlyn looked once more at the angel statue and scrunched down into her sodden black coat, her hands digging in to her pockets.
After a while, she sensed a presence beside her and looked to Kyle. He leaned upon the walking stick, making himself look more pathetic in her presence. He just wasn't going to let that go, reminding her that he had become injured helping her. She glanced across to his adoptive father, Thomas Miller. Fear.
"I take it Bastion returned from their cosmic vacation." The big, sullen looking Mr Miller gave her a curt nod. "Am I to expect another test from him?"
"Nah. He has other things on his mind. Komedy escaped. Again." He adjusted his stance, favouring his other leg. Both the arm and leg were out of their casts, but he still had some recovery to go. "Apparently, they stopped a being trying to eat the multiverse. Actually eat it. Mad. Of course, I'm banned from the satellite. Something about making a mess that'll take industrial cleaners to fix. Oh, and Trooper John is back! He was stuck in a different universe. It happens."
"It never ends, does it?" The rain started to pour down even harder and she looked up to the skies. A being eating the multiverse. It was mad. And amazing. "Wait. Trooper John? What about Trooper Jane?"
"She's fine. He got a new shield in some kind of mirror universe thing. She keeps the old one and they'll be covering two different cities. No biggie." He turned, silently inviting her to follow him back to the waiting cars. "What about you? Ready to get back to it? Because, you're right, it never ends. You'll never be done saving people. That's the job."
She was ready. She had to be. Aunt Mary allowed her to break the grounding for super-villains, but, soon, she would be back at it. She was a superhero and, no matter what the villains of the world threw at her, she had to be the one to stop them. To keep going. Because she could never sully the memory of the man that had given his life for her. She had to be worthy of that sacrifice, no matter the cost.
That was the burden of being a hero.
-+-
Somewhere in Market Town ...
Doctor Rucka's soaked shoes splashed through yet another puddle. In the wake of Fiend's capture, several Ald-Tech facilities were raided and he had, finally, gained his freedom. And not a moment too soon, as far as he felt concerned. Fiend, in all her madness, had practically forgotten about him after he had told her he couldn't make the synthesised Black Element permanent. He had kept his secret.
However, what he also hadn't told anyone, something he would take to the grave, was that he hadn't destroyed all the permanent Black Element. One container, enough to create another Fiend, or another Blood Obsidian, remained in his possession. Only, he wasn't quite certain what to do with it. After losing his job at Ald-Tech, his services no longer required, he needed money and he needed it fast.
He had made enquiries and now he faced a decision. Make the non-permanent Black Element into a drug, something criminal gangs would pay through the nose for, or sell the permanent Black Element, itself. The world was in his hands, but only if he lived long enough.
As the shadow crossed above him, yet again, he feared he wouldn't live long enough to make any money at all.
Someone had found him.
-+-
Stormfield Island prison ...
Raymond Alden looked through the reinforced glass at his daughter, Rayna, and wondered where he had gone wrong. She had always had an intensity about her, but he never thought she could become ... this. Even in the cell, she remained restrained. One moment as weak as a kitten, the next a raging maniac, far too strong for the guards to handle alone. And always the same rantings. She would, one day, kill Blood Obsidian.
Even in her madness, she never mentioned the girl's name, as though that secret was hers and hers alone to keep. Caitlyn Carter, however, would never see Rayna again. Her family would never be threatened by Rayna again, he would see to that. As he turned away from the cell, after saying nothing, as he did everyday, Rayna stirred.
"You think you can keep me here forever, daddy dearest? That you aren't changed, like me? It seems, prolonged exposure has given me a little extra time with Fiend. How long, I don't know, but long enough, I think. I'll get out. I will. And then ... and then ... and then." Rayna tilted her head, grinning at her father, her skin turning grey for the tiniest fraction of a second. "And how has it changed you, daddy? I exposed you to it just as much. All those painkillers that your adoring, attentive daughter brought for you? What gifts do you have for this city, I wonder?"
He didn't answer her, nor did he look back as her maniacal laughter began to follow him down the corridor, the lights switching off, automatically, as he left the most secure area of Stormfield Island prison. His fingers played across the steel bar in his pocket as he walked and, to prove her wrong, he tried to bend it.
-+-
Downtown New Hastings city ...
Officer Chase ran through the rain that fell like lances from the skies, one hand upon the butt of his holstered pistol, the other carrying the flashlight before him as he raced to the scene of the incident. The light bounced against the rain-soaked walls of the alley, urgency requiring he reach the scene fast, rather than caring about keeping the light steady.
The nine-one-one call had come in about a slaughter. That exact word and, according to dispatch, the caller practically begged someone to come. That someone was Chase, as most everyone else had gone to the Chief's funeral. It had to happen on his shift. Something caught in the beam of the flashlight and Chase came to an abrupt halt.
"Tell Blood Obsidian. Tell everybody. Tell them all." The voice almost made Chase wet himself. It didn't sound anywhere close to human. "Tell them Red Revenge is here. And Blood Obsidian will know all about me, soon enough. Soon."
The hulking, red ... thing lifted its arm and something looped out from its very flesh. A slimy looking red line that attached to the building overhead and then the creature disappeared, blotted out from Chase's sight by a flash of lightning that rippled across the sky. And then Chase looked back down to the surface of the alley, tracing the flashlight across what the creature had done.
The flashlight fell from numb fingers as Chase turned his head to the side and vomited. He should never have come to this call-out alone. In fact, he wasn't certain he could ever be alone again.
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(If you've enjoyed 'Blood Obsidian', why not check out another story in my superhero universe, 'GraceFall'. The ONC 2024 story follows the fall of the hero, Psycona, and the consequences of those events.
https://www.wattpad.com/story/361940985-gracefall-onc-2024)