THIRD PERSON VIEW.
A WEEK LATER....
"My squad is on their way here. This city needs all the protecting it can get." Kathy told Bruce and Se'ir as they added finishing touches to the devices. The schematics had been put to action once the horrific events had occured. Now sitting before them, were small devices programed to momentarily distort the mind. A device that could mean everything for their operation in two days. They had a location, and Se'ir and Richard had also discovered something new. The earth elemental had been digging around the city and moving their locations, making it more difficult to pin point them. Fortunately, he had slipped up, or maybe it was intentional to get their attention....what ever the reason, they had a search area and this time, there was no holding back. Bruce and Lucius had ordered more explosives and drilling machines...nothing too fancy, they didn't want to cause any more damage.
"Is bats okay with all this?" Se'ir asked as he dropped the tiny screwdriver on the table. Bruce looked up from his spot infront of a large monitor and narrowed his eyes at Se'ir, who shrugged then grinned.
"As long as they don't interfere with my work. They should be focused on keeping the people safe and securing key locations." He replied and turned back to the screen.
"That's what they'll be here for." Kathy replied and exhaled. She was unsure of his response and now the pressure was definately off. She watched them quietly. Se'ir tightened the last tiny bolt under the advanced microscope, put it inside a small, transperent dome, and Bruce uploaded the software. They were all quiet as it uploaded in seconds.A beeping noise interrupted the silence and the dome automatically opened, revealing the fully operational device.
"Well, who are the test subjects?" Kathy asked.
"Kathy, this is why we have thugs." Se'ir laughed and stood. He grabbed his jacket, gave a brief nod to Bruce and a hug to Kathy then left the cave.
"This is what we gon' do, we gon' rob the thug's mind! It's what we gotta do 'cause we livin' the cop life!" He called out, threw a fake gang sign in the air and bit his lip menacingly as the cave's elevator took him and his stupid rap away. Kathy found herself chuckling at his antics and Bruce let out a sigh. The nightmares had ceased for him, but that didn't stop his mind from replaying last week's events. Now the city was in a state of panic. Gordon had cops posted all over the city and was currently considering requesting help from the military to take Xenos down. A blood manipulator
was no joke, and till now, Bruce hadn't figured out a way to even the odds.
Kathy, on the other hand, hadn't told Bruce and Se'ir everything. There was someone else joining this fight, but she already knew how he felt about multiple allies. He wasn't a fan and she wasn't ready to have him refuse the help, so she just had to hide it as well as she could till it revealed itself. Hiding something from the World's Greatest Detective wasn't a smart choice.
"Goodluck, Kathy." She thought to herself as she watched him place another small batch of devices into the dome-like structure....
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UNGERGROUND.
ARES' VIEW
Training. We were always training to kill, every damn day. F*****g s**t. I couldn't handle it anymore.
Our minds were not ours to control anymore and most of the things we did were controlled by him.Our team was in shambles. It was obvious everyone was still shaken by what we did last week. Let's not forget all the times we found Xenos watching the news and we saw ourselves killing like it was alright with the world. We barely had time to talk to each other, we were always escorted by those blue monsters and seperated. The only one of us that was allowed more freedom was my sister. He always wanted her by his side and I knew she didn't refute it only because we needed to cooperate to avoid severe punishment. Analise was more reserved, and less brash than she was about two weeks ago. She almost seemed empty. Even Eric was softer now. His usual bitterness was toned down. He moved stiffly and only spoke when he was spoken to..
However, now, the the situaton seemed to have flipped. Aphrodite had whispered something about meditating and spirit guides to all of us before we sparred a day or two ago. Judging from her brightened expression, we could all tell that she was on to something. Fortunately, Xenos wasn't with us today. He had left to go deal with some authorities or whatever he called it. It left us about two hours alone with the creatures. I was currently in my room, but I got up and walked out, a blue creature following behind me.I walked into the dinning room to find Aphrodite and Eric talking, with one of the blue creatures. Analise sat quietly, her hand firmly placed on her cup of coffee and the other tapping on the table.
"Am I missing something here?" I asked with a puzzled expression. Why was a henchman seated next to them like all was right?
"Hey, sit down. You too." Aphrodite said then pointed at the thug that had escorted me. He raised an eyebrow at her but remained standing. "Alright, suit yourself. Thought you might want your body back or something." She said casually and the way his eyes bulged, was enough to convey his desire. He hesitated for a few seconds but after an encouraging nod from the other creature seated by Eric, he sat opposite Analise. I sat and we all looked to Aphrodite.
"Good morning. This is Barn-I mean Kenneth." She said and motioned to the blue guy who grunted in response. "And you are?" She asked the other guy.
"M-mike." He stammered. Must have been a while since he said his own name, I was still clueless.
"Nice to meet you, Mike. How do you feel about your current job?
"Look, I do not want to talk about this." He said softly and I was shocked at his tone.
"That's alright. I'll tell you how we feel about our current job. We're devasted and we'd love our former lives back." She replied.
"Don't act like you're truly loyal to him, Mike. I've disabled the cameras." Kenneth stated and folded his thick arms. Mike exhaled.
"Man, I haven't spoken like this in so long. I hate what I'm doing. And if we're plotting an escape, I'm in." He said casually and we all sat, stunned.
"Jeez, who knew you were so laid back?" Analise chuckled and he shrugged.
"Alright, sorry to burst your bubble, we're not escaping. Not yet. If we leave, we'll only be back here via blood manipulation and you probably won't get your bodies back." Eric said. "We have to disable things from the inside before leave, starting with his orb."
"Agreed. But it is difficult to reach it, he keeps it heavily sealed in a small chamber in his room. It is also guarded by the spirits of the cult that gathered us here." Kenneth said.
"Difficult, not impossible. We'll have to try." Aphrodite said.
"Well since you've already become his wife, why not sleep your way through?" Analise suddenly snapped. We all caught the venom in her voice when she said the word "wife." Aphrodite abruptly rose from the table, banging her fist on it simuntaneously, causing it to shake. Her eyes narrowed and I swear small sparks raced down her body and her hair blew around harshly. Analise's expression mirrored Aphrodite's, except she wasn't as intimidating.
"I'm getting real tired of your s**t. If you can't let go of the past, maybe you shouldn't be here slowing us down." Aphrodite said harshly and Analise was about to retort when Eric interrupted.
"Okay, okay, ladies, let's calm down and-" Eric was saying when they both threw him glares and he sank back down. "Or we could talk about our problems." He added and cleared his throat. Aphrodite let out something that sounded like a low growl and sat back down while Analise grunted and turned away from her. Aphrodite always turned into some kind of animal when she was aggitated, I knew that from our countless fights; which sadly reminded me of our parents, who ,through the media, know I'm alive....
"I...apologize for that." She said and exhaled. "Let's startover and keep open minds." She offered and this time, we made some progress.....
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ERIC'S VIEW.
AN HOUR LATER.....
We had a plan. A plan that required a lot of patience. We would retrieve the orb via distractions. Aphrodite would have to be the key player. Kenneth and Mike would try to bring in as many creatures as they could, but they knew they had to be careful. Hell, we had to be careful. That was why we never fully revealed all the details of our plans to them. It was only reasonable not to do so at this point. I had to hand it to Aphrodite, she wasn't playing around. I had pegged her wrong when we first met, she reminded me of an ex-girlfriend that turned out to be an assassin sent to murder me.....but that was the past. And as much as I've tried to fight it, I found myself liking her more everyday. She was strong, passionate, stubborn, smart, and hotheaded. And her beauty, her body, her unintentional grace....it was hard to stuff it all down and pretend I only viewed her as a teammate.
My mind had shifted to her again, like it had been doing lately. I needed to speak with her. Not about feelings, but about the dreams I'd been recieving recently.It was always some old guy talking to me about being an element or something like that. It seemed like nonsense to me but my guts were telling me not to dismiss them. And that was why I pulled her to the side before she headed out. Ares gave me a look before leaving with Analise and the others.
"What's up?" She asked.
"Have you been having some dreams lately?"
"You've gotta be more specific with that, Eric." She replied.
"Well...does an old man telling you something about being an element or something along that line ring any bells?" I asked and tried to stay hopeful. She was quiet.
"Maybe it's Macedon." She said and she already looked like she was lost in thought.
"Who now?"
"My spirit guide. And yeah, I've had dreams like that. I can't figure it out yet but I know it's something we should hold on to." She said and I breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Good to hear that, I thought I was going crazy, you know."
"Aren't we all a little crazy?" She asked with a small smile that lit up her features. I found myself smiling back and this time, it didn't feel strange. "Well us, more than others." She added with a sigh.
"So, can I go?" She asked.
"What? Oh, yeah, of course. That was it." I replied a bit awkwardly and she smiled then shrugged.
"Alright then, if you still wanna talk, you know where to find me." She said casually and walked away after waving to me."Not like we can go anywhere else." She said quietly with her hands placed behind her back as she walked away. Suddenly, she rushed back in to me with a bright expression.
"Oh, and you should try meditating too." She offered and I raised an eyebrow, causing her to chuckle littlely. "It'll work. Just gotta clear your mind....we've all got some kind of spirit guide. It's time you guys found yours." She said and left once more.
I stood there, staring after her....it was almost like I could feel the asshole in me dissolve completely...almost. There was still enough harshness left to deal with Xenos.
Back to dealing with Xenos, unknown to him, I had been putting enough pressure on the area we were, hoping we caught the Batman's attention, or someone else who'd be able to help. I liked to think of it as a Plan B. If we can't get the job done on the inside, perphaps outside help would prove to be the solution. Unfortunately, from what I'd heard Xenos talk about in our early days, and from the fear in his voice, the true solution is not a sacrifice any of us would be willing to make and I hoped it would never come down to that.
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XENOS' VIEW
THREE DAYS LATER.
Life resumed with my team training and working together as they should. The situation seemed to be going better than I planned. Maybe they were coming to their senses...maybe they were plotting my downfall. It was too late for that. Today was the day I planned to release the spirits. They would aid us all and spread all over the city by the end of the month, wrecking everything in sight and killing the people, starting with the crimals in the asylum and in prisons then moving on the general population. It was all for their own good.
Why by the end of the month? They needed to recover their strength. I knew them for being ruthless killers and I hoped my team performed to their satisfaction.What the team didn't know what that their remains were in the orb, along with all our blood. Once it was broken, and I chanted the spell I recieved years back, they would return and be allowed to rest around the tunnels till the day they were ready to be unleashed. I had also taken care of a few nosy authorities that lingered around our area too long a few days ago. I splattered their blood all over the newly built G.C.P.D building, a warning to any others that dared to oppose me...
I stood staring the orb in my room, watching our blood swirl around each other and thinking of how far I'd come with my mission. Gathering the team was no easy task...getting the tunnels, selecting the worthless men to become my creatures, honing my skills in blood manipulation, and ensuring the bond I was promised remained strong.
"Sometimes we have to prune back hard in order to make something florish." I'd told Aphrodite a while ago when she questioned my harsh methods. She wasn't ready to accept it, but now, her view had changed. I'd made her kill publicly, to weaken her and cause her to submit to me, it worked. Initially, her submittion seemed a bit rushed, but when she refused to repeat the same confession she said that day, I knew it was more genuine. She still tried to deny her attraction to me but has eventually grown accustomed to having me around her.
Three taps against my door was all it took to remove me from my thoughts. She was here, which wasn't completely odd. I opened the door to find her standing there, with a bright smile and two staffs in her hand.
"Come on, time to practice." She said and tossed one to me. I caught it and starred at her. Her hair was held up by one of the many accessories women used...it looked like a donut of some sort, and she wore the fitted training gear I ordered for her and tugged me out of the room without my consent. My consent ceased to matter when we reached the training room and she pressed her soft, sweet, lips against mine and pulled back with a triumphant smile. I laughed and we took our stances, my staff firm in my hand.
The end of the month was only two wonderful weeks away. I could hardly wait.
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-TheDarkKnight123