Post by Publicist on Sept 3, 2017 15:10:00 GMT -5
CHAPTER XXVIII: THE GHOST OF MEMORIES END… (PART 1)
OLYMPIA HEIGHTS
Empire City Luxury District
Staff Master had managed to escape the Capitol District and elude the mob that the so-called ‘Angel’ had set after him. He gripped his hand tighter around the staff he carried that augmented him and gave him great power that he used in his quest to fight for good…but a chill ran down his spine as the thought of might have happened if Hexx had actually managed to take it from him…especially while she was in possession of another piece of the great weapon. The question he had was how she had gotten it, and if she had killed her sister to get it.
He made his way to her home, and considered forcing his way inside, but before he could, the door was thrown open and Michelle Andretti ran out, throwing her arms around him.
“ERIC! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!” She held him for a moment, then looked around as she pulled him inside and slammed the door.
Eric grabbed his sister, holding her by her shoulders as he looked her up and down, a look of relief on his face. “Chelle, it’s good to see you…but…this isn’t a social visit, we have a problem!” He looked at her hands, then back to her eyes, “Where is the band?”
Michelle shook her head, she had hoped that it would be found and returned to her by Detective Jordan, but it had not. “I lost it Eric…”
He snorted, “Well, I found it and the crazy bitch who has it…that Hexx thing, nearly took the staff from me!”
Michelle’s eyes grew wide. “Does she know? Does she know what it is?!”
Eric let out a hard sigh as he plopped down on the couch. Deep worry was etched across his face. “I-I don’t know…I don’t think so, but when she touched the staff…I think she got an inking. She sent half of Empire City’s ‘One God’ nuts after me! We need to get this staff out of the city. We can’t allow either of the three pieces to come together!”
Michelle nodded, “Fine…let me get a few thi…”
Before she could finish, the door burst open and Reaver and Vixxxen stepped inside; Reaver with claws at the ready with a sadistic smile on her face…Vixxxen with her hands aflame.
Eric brandished his staff, as he pulled his sister behind him. “I don’t know what you want, but you want, but yo-“
CRASH
“ERIC!!” Michelle screamed as part of the roof collapsed on top of him. She ran to him, but her body collapsed to the floor as she was held there by a crushing force that she couldn’t see…but she remembered in horrifying detail. Her eyes turned as she watched the meta terrorist walk into the room, “…G-Gaia..”
Gaia moved gingerly, one arm in a sling and a patch over her eye, a gift from Agent Sloan before she threw herself out of the plane at 30,000 feet. The meta held Michelle down, using her power to slowly crush the life out of her as she screamed.
Vixxxen ran over and grabbed Gaia’s arm, stopping her, “HEY! Daria wants at least one of them alive to tell us what that stick does! No more killing…for now!”
Gaia paid her no heed as she continued to crush Michelle. Across the room Reaver grabbed the staff from the bloody hand sticking out of the wreckage. She twirled it around, then leaned on it like a walking stick as she watched the two with a broad grin on her face.
Vixxxen charged up a fireball, her eyes narrowing, “Last chance Captain Ron! Let the girl up or I’ll burn your ass to a crisp, right here, right fucking now!”
Gaia stopped, her one good eye glaring at Vixxxen. She grunted, turning and walking away angrily. She had been denied revenge against the woman who had shot her and taken her eye, and now she was being denied the chance to kill another human. This was really starting to grate on her nerves.
Vixxxen looked back at Reaver as she struggled to pick Michelle’s unconscious body up off the floor. “You couldn’t back me up?”
Reaver grinned, twirling the staff around and marveling at the power she felt coursing through her. “ “You looked fine Mate! Didn’t wanna step on yer toes!” She walked over and grabbed Michelle with one arm and lifted her with ease.
Vixxxen arched the brow, “The stick doing that?”
Reaver grinned, “No! That’s all me you stupid sot!” Reaver giggled as she walked out with Michelle tucked under one arm and the staff in the other hand...
ECPD HEADQUARTERS
Empire City Capitol District
Brandon Knight walked into the battered ECPD building, taking great care to step around the shattered glass and debris that littered the floor. He walked up to the Desk Sergeant. “Excuse me…I was told that I could find Detective Jordan here.”
The man told him to wait there while he called her. Brandon nodded as he looked around the crowded lobby, filled with bruised and bloodied officers and civilians. It seemed like only yesterday that the biggest threat in the city was the metas and now it was the people themselves, his people…the followers of the ‘One God’ faith.
“Brandon…”
He looked up as Stacey walked over. Her left hand was bandaged and there was a nasty bruise on the left side of her face. A look of surprise and concern spread across his own face. “MY GOD!! WHAT HAPPENED?!!”
The question nearly made her laugh. Not because it was funny, but because the answer made her point so perfectly that she hardly needed to explain her feelings. “Why don’t you ask your little runaway ‘angel’ what happened to me? She’s the one responsible for all of the damage out there…all of the lives lost!”
Brandon shook his head. “ “Stacey! You know as well as I do that Anka isn’t a killer!” He looked around, then pulled her in close. “You’re right…she may not be an angel…but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t serve the will of God!”
“Believe me Brandon…she aint serving anyone but herself!” She shrugged his hands off of her, then paused for a moment and put her hands on her hips as she cocked her head to the side. “Hey…didn’t I have you in protective custody?”
Brandon folded his arms. “You had me detained without cause Stacey! You were deliberately keeping me off the streets so you could further sully Anka’s name and paint her has some sort of villain!”
Stacey felt her cheeks flash white-hot with anger. “YOU’VE GOT SOME DAMN NERVE!! I haven’t had to do a single thing except sit back and give her enough rope to hang herself with! She’s the one that set fire to the churches around Empire City!!”
Brandon shook his head. “You’re grasping at straws! Anka had nothing to do with that!”
She countered. “She killed scores of people inside the S.C. Lewis Building!!”
He rolled his eyes. “Come on Stacey!! Motive? Evidence? She was there…but that doesn’t make her a murderer!”
Stacey raised her eyebrow, as she prepared for a ‘gotcha moment’ of epic proportions. “Hexx…murdered Superius when she escaped from holding! She electrocuted him…right in front of me! She started a riot outside, telling those fucking nuts that listen to your bullshit to kill metas! GODS! She killed two cops right in front of me Brandon!”
Stacey turned and looked over at Sergeant Lockley as she consoled Deimos, who’d been completely despondent since watching his friends murdered in the street by Hexx. Lockley looked over at Stacey, giving a slight shake of her head to let her know that he still wasn’t any better.
Stacey turned back to Brandon, “Face it, your little pretend angel is no better than that bitch Gaia! You’d better believe, the next time I find her in my sights, I am going to blow her godsdamn head off!”
Brandon could hardly believe his ears. “I don’t know what you saw Stacey, but I heard about the police sharp shooters that opened fire on the crowd! You’re not going to tell me that was her doing as well, are you?” He paused as he shook his head in disgust. “You don’t know her history…what she’s been through. She’s not a killer Stacey!! I feel it in my heart…why can’t you?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Because I’m not blinded by the same insane religious bullshit that you are!” She spoke in a mocking tone, “There’s a man sitting in the sky that we can’t see who made everything around us. If we are good…he’ll bring us up there with him and we can all be together forever, but if we are bad…he’ll send us underground to the bad red man with horns and a pitchfork!! GODS!! I’ve heard stories that make more sense during the Saturday morning Cartoon-Fest!” She laughed. “You actually have people believing all that nonsense…and that makes me wonder Brandon…who’s really more dangerous? Your nutso girlfriend…or YOU!!”
Stacey’s words had cut him deeply, but he wouldn’t back down from his point…no matter what she said. “Fine Stacey! Believe what you want…make an Imperial case out of it if you like…but you’re wrong about her! Anka would never harm anyone. I just hope that I’m there when it’s proven to you!”
He turned and started to walk out as she called out to him, causing him to stop. “Hey Brandon…for your sake…I hope that you’re not…”
He didn’t even turn and look back, he just walked out the door. Stacey stood there in silence, staring as Sergeant Lockley walked over to her. “I didn’t know that you actually knew Father Knight?”
She looked at the officer and shook her head. “No…I don’t know him…not anymore.” She glanced back at the door. “Have a tail put on him…I have reason to believe that Hexx will try to contact him.”
She stared at her. “You think that the angel will go after him?”
“Not the angel…the murderer…”
DOWNTOWN
Lower Eastside, Empire City
Hannah struggled to stay aloft, but her wings were ravaged and nearly shredded in the conflict that took place in the Capital District only a few hours prior. Finally, she came down to a not so ginger landing, nearly falling over the edge of one of the piers as she hit the ground. Her body had begun the healing process in earnest, thanks to the ring she wore on her finger, but her wings…they were an entirely different matter.
She looked down at her reflection in the water…her large white wings suddenly looked mangy and worn. It was strange…ever since she could remember having them…they had never looked that way…they had never been damaged…
Not through fire…
Not through cold…
Not through any known weapons…
Nothing had ever damaged them. All the same…after centuries and centuries of punishment…now they had begun to lose their luster…their durability. For the first time since she had been given them…she was actually distressed over their potential loss.
She stood up, still looking down at her reflection in the water. She had never wanted the wings…never asked for them…had always viewed them as a curse put upon her by God. Something more to separate her from the rest of humanity.
Things could have been worse…
With a bit of focus…her ruined wings seemed to simmer with the light, then fade from view…normalizing her appearance. She was willing to bet that without the wings, very few people would take notice of her…all but the most astute.
So much the better for now. She needed to lay low and regroup. She had lost her chance at getting her hands on the staff, but there would be another chance and when it came, she’d not be denied again. She had a legion of agents throughout Empire City…One God followers who would do her bidding whenever she asked…
…and she would ask soon…very soon indeed…
In the meanwhile, she walked the streets on her own, looking for signs of the missing staff or the one that had taken it. All she could do was cross her fingers and hope that he would be cornered and captured.
Rumor had it that scores of metas had been taken by the Alans… a cleansing so they called it. She didn’t care what it was called or what it entailed… so long as she got what she wanted… they could turn their resources on the human populace next.
God didn’t care…so why should she?
He had forever been cruel…even in His gift to her…her beautiful wings…there had been sort of cruel joke. It pained her to think of the past…even one so long as hers. It was better to focus on the moment and what would hap…
Hannah was nearly knocked down as a panicked young girl bumped headlong into her. It was only for the most brief of moments that their eyes met…but that was all the time that was needed to freeze her in her tracks. The girl seemed scared and in a hurry…running away from something…someone…
…for a moment…she thought that her memories had gotten the better of her. She closed her eyes and opened them again as she watched the girl disappear down the alley. It was at that moment she found her voice as she spoke the girl’s name…
“Arella…”
In an instant, memories flooded back…threatening to wash her away like a tidal wave. She had believed the girl dead for hundreds of years until she saw her during the attack on the city by Gaia. She had seen her in the wreckage and had pursued her, only to lose her again later. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she choked them back down. Before, she had thought it was a dream…some sort of trick. Arella was supposed to be long since dead…wasn’t she?
The sounds of an angry mob approaching jarred her out of her memory…breaking her focus. Her tattered wings burst forth…their sudden emergence even giving her a start. She quickly enveloped herself within their protective folds and hoped that they could still work some of their old magic.
She faded from view… cloaked within…
The mob ran past her in pursuit of the young girl…they had bloodlust in their hearts, a bloodlust that she herself had put there…and it hung in the air around them. This was too much for her…too familiar…
much too painful to live through again.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked up and begged him…
“YOU B*STARD!! NOT AGAIN!! DON’T YOU MAKE ME GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN!!!”
OLYMPIA HEIGHTS
Empire City Luxury District
Staff Master had managed to escape the Capitol District and elude the mob that the so-called ‘Angel’ had set after him. He gripped his hand tighter around the staff he carried that augmented him and gave him great power that he used in his quest to fight for good…but a chill ran down his spine as the thought of might have happened if Hexx had actually managed to take it from him…especially while she was in possession of another piece of the great weapon. The question he had was how she had gotten it, and if she had killed her sister to get it.
He made his way to her home, and considered forcing his way inside, but before he could, the door was thrown open and Michelle Andretti ran out, throwing her arms around him.
“ERIC! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!” She held him for a moment, then looked around as she pulled him inside and slammed the door.
Eric grabbed his sister, holding her by her shoulders as he looked her up and down, a look of relief on his face. “Chelle, it’s good to see you…but…this isn’t a social visit, we have a problem!” He looked at her hands, then back to her eyes, “Where is the band?”
Michelle shook her head, she had hoped that it would be found and returned to her by Detective Jordan, but it had not. “I lost it Eric…”
He snorted, “Well, I found it and the crazy bitch who has it…that Hexx thing, nearly took the staff from me!”
Michelle’s eyes grew wide. “Does she know? Does she know what it is?!”
Eric let out a hard sigh as he plopped down on the couch. Deep worry was etched across his face. “I-I don’t know…I don’t think so, but when she touched the staff…I think she got an inking. She sent half of Empire City’s ‘One God’ nuts after me! We need to get this staff out of the city. We can’t allow either of the three pieces to come together!”
Michelle nodded, “Fine…let me get a few thi…”
Before she could finish, the door burst open and Reaver and Vixxxen stepped inside; Reaver with claws at the ready with a sadistic smile on her face…Vixxxen with her hands aflame.
Eric brandished his staff, as he pulled his sister behind him. “I don’t know what you want, but you want, but yo-“
CRASH
“ERIC!!” Michelle screamed as part of the roof collapsed on top of him. She ran to him, but her body collapsed to the floor as she was held there by a crushing force that she couldn’t see…but she remembered in horrifying detail. Her eyes turned as she watched the meta terrorist walk into the room, “…G-Gaia..”
Gaia moved gingerly, one arm in a sling and a patch over her eye, a gift from Agent Sloan before she threw herself out of the plane at 30,000 feet. The meta held Michelle down, using her power to slowly crush the life out of her as she screamed.
Vixxxen ran over and grabbed Gaia’s arm, stopping her, “HEY! Daria wants at least one of them alive to tell us what that stick does! No more killing…for now!”
Gaia paid her no heed as she continued to crush Michelle. Across the room Reaver grabbed the staff from the bloody hand sticking out of the wreckage. She twirled it around, then leaned on it like a walking stick as she watched the two with a broad grin on her face.
Vixxxen charged up a fireball, her eyes narrowing, “Last chance Captain Ron! Let the girl up or I’ll burn your ass to a crisp, right here, right fucking now!”
Gaia stopped, her one good eye glaring at Vixxxen. She grunted, turning and walking away angrily. She had been denied revenge against the woman who had shot her and taken her eye, and now she was being denied the chance to kill another human. This was really starting to grate on her nerves.
Vixxxen looked back at Reaver as she struggled to pick Michelle’s unconscious body up off the floor. “You couldn’t back me up?”
Reaver grinned, twirling the staff around and marveling at the power she felt coursing through her. “ “You looked fine Mate! Didn’t wanna step on yer toes!” She walked over and grabbed Michelle with one arm and lifted her with ease.
Vixxxen arched the brow, “The stick doing that?”
Reaver grinned, “No! That’s all me you stupid sot!” Reaver giggled as she walked out with Michelle tucked under one arm and the staff in the other hand...
ECPD HEADQUARTERS
Empire City Capitol District
Brandon Knight walked into the battered ECPD building, taking great care to step around the shattered glass and debris that littered the floor. He walked up to the Desk Sergeant. “Excuse me…I was told that I could find Detective Jordan here.”
The man told him to wait there while he called her. Brandon nodded as he looked around the crowded lobby, filled with bruised and bloodied officers and civilians. It seemed like only yesterday that the biggest threat in the city was the metas and now it was the people themselves, his people…the followers of the ‘One God’ faith.
“Brandon…”
He looked up as Stacey walked over. Her left hand was bandaged and there was a nasty bruise on the left side of her face. A look of surprise and concern spread across his own face. “MY GOD!! WHAT HAPPENED?!!”
The question nearly made her laugh. Not because it was funny, but because the answer made her point so perfectly that she hardly needed to explain her feelings. “Why don’t you ask your little runaway ‘angel’ what happened to me? She’s the one responsible for all of the damage out there…all of the lives lost!”
Brandon shook his head. “ “Stacey! You know as well as I do that Anka isn’t a killer!” He looked around, then pulled her in close. “You’re right…she may not be an angel…but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t serve the will of God!”
“Believe me Brandon…she aint serving anyone but herself!” She shrugged his hands off of her, then paused for a moment and put her hands on her hips as she cocked her head to the side. “Hey…didn’t I have you in protective custody?”
Brandon folded his arms. “You had me detained without cause Stacey! You were deliberately keeping me off the streets so you could further sully Anka’s name and paint her has some sort of villain!”
Stacey felt her cheeks flash white-hot with anger. “YOU’VE GOT SOME DAMN NERVE!! I haven’t had to do a single thing except sit back and give her enough rope to hang herself with! She’s the one that set fire to the churches around Empire City!!”
Brandon shook his head. “You’re grasping at straws! Anka had nothing to do with that!”
She countered. “She killed scores of people inside the S.C. Lewis Building!!”
He rolled his eyes. “Come on Stacey!! Motive? Evidence? She was there…but that doesn’t make her a murderer!”
Stacey raised her eyebrow, as she prepared for a ‘gotcha moment’ of epic proportions. “Hexx…murdered Superius when she escaped from holding! She electrocuted him…right in front of me! She started a riot outside, telling those fucking nuts that listen to your bullshit to kill metas! GODS! She killed two cops right in front of me Brandon!”
Stacey turned and looked over at Sergeant Lockley as she consoled Deimos, who’d been completely despondent since watching his friends murdered in the street by Hexx. Lockley looked over at Stacey, giving a slight shake of her head to let her know that he still wasn’t any better.
Stacey turned back to Brandon, “Face it, your little pretend angel is no better than that bitch Gaia! You’d better believe, the next time I find her in my sights, I am going to blow her godsdamn head off!”
Brandon could hardly believe his ears. “I don’t know what you saw Stacey, but I heard about the police sharp shooters that opened fire on the crowd! You’re not going to tell me that was her doing as well, are you?” He paused as he shook his head in disgust. “You don’t know her history…what she’s been through. She’s not a killer Stacey!! I feel it in my heart…why can’t you?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Because I’m not blinded by the same insane religious bullshit that you are!” She spoke in a mocking tone, “There’s a man sitting in the sky that we can’t see who made everything around us. If we are good…he’ll bring us up there with him and we can all be together forever, but if we are bad…he’ll send us underground to the bad red man with horns and a pitchfork!! GODS!! I’ve heard stories that make more sense during the Saturday morning Cartoon-Fest!” She laughed. “You actually have people believing all that nonsense…and that makes me wonder Brandon…who’s really more dangerous? Your nutso girlfriend…or YOU!!”
Stacey’s words had cut him deeply, but he wouldn’t back down from his point…no matter what she said. “Fine Stacey! Believe what you want…make an Imperial case out of it if you like…but you’re wrong about her! Anka would never harm anyone. I just hope that I’m there when it’s proven to you!”
He turned and started to walk out as she called out to him, causing him to stop. “Hey Brandon…for your sake…I hope that you’re not…”
He didn’t even turn and look back, he just walked out the door. Stacey stood there in silence, staring as Sergeant Lockley walked over to her. “I didn’t know that you actually knew Father Knight?”
She looked at the officer and shook her head. “No…I don’t know him…not anymore.” She glanced back at the door. “Have a tail put on him…I have reason to believe that Hexx will try to contact him.”
She stared at her. “You think that the angel will go after him?”
“Not the angel…the murderer…”
DOWNTOWN
Lower Eastside, Empire City
Hannah struggled to stay aloft, but her wings were ravaged and nearly shredded in the conflict that took place in the Capital District only a few hours prior. Finally, she came down to a not so ginger landing, nearly falling over the edge of one of the piers as she hit the ground. Her body had begun the healing process in earnest, thanks to the ring she wore on her finger, but her wings…they were an entirely different matter.
She looked down at her reflection in the water…her large white wings suddenly looked mangy and worn. It was strange…ever since she could remember having them…they had never looked that way…they had never been damaged…
Not through fire…
Not through cold…
Not through any known weapons…
Nothing had ever damaged them. All the same…after centuries and centuries of punishment…now they had begun to lose their luster…their durability. For the first time since she had been given them…she was actually distressed over their potential loss.
She stood up, still looking down at her reflection in the water. She had never wanted the wings…never asked for them…had always viewed them as a curse put upon her by God. Something more to separate her from the rest of humanity.
Things could have been worse…
With a bit of focus…her ruined wings seemed to simmer with the light, then fade from view…normalizing her appearance. She was willing to bet that without the wings, very few people would take notice of her…all but the most astute.
So much the better for now. She needed to lay low and regroup. She had lost her chance at getting her hands on the staff, but there would be another chance and when it came, she’d not be denied again. She had a legion of agents throughout Empire City…One God followers who would do her bidding whenever she asked…
…and she would ask soon…very soon indeed…
In the meanwhile, she walked the streets on her own, looking for signs of the missing staff or the one that had taken it. All she could do was cross her fingers and hope that he would be cornered and captured.
Rumor had it that scores of metas had been taken by the Alans… a cleansing so they called it. She didn’t care what it was called or what it entailed… so long as she got what she wanted… they could turn their resources on the human populace next.
God didn’t care…so why should she?
He had forever been cruel…even in His gift to her…her beautiful wings…there had been sort of cruel joke. It pained her to think of the past…even one so long as hers. It was better to focus on the moment and what would hap…
Hannah was nearly knocked down as a panicked young girl bumped headlong into her. It was only for the most brief of moments that their eyes met…but that was all the time that was needed to freeze her in her tracks. The girl seemed scared and in a hurry…running away from something…someone…
…for a moment…she thought that her memories had gotten the better of her. She closed her eyes and opened them again as she watched the girl disappear down the alley. It was at that moment she found her voice as she spoke the girl’s name…
“Arella…”
In an instant, memories flooded back…threatening to wash her away like a tidal wave. She had believed the girl dead for hundreds of years until she saw her during the attack on the city by Gaia. She had seen her in the wreckage and had pursued her, only to lose her again later. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she choked them back down. Before, she had thought it was a dream…some sort of trick. Arella was supposed to be long since dead…wasn’t she?
The sounds of an angry mob approaching jarred her out of her memory…breaking her focus. Her tattered wings burst forth…their sudden emergence even giving her a start. She quickly enveloped herself within their protective folds and hoped that they could still work some of their old magic.
She faded from view… cloaked within…
The mob ran past her in pursuit of the young girl…they had bloodlust in their hearts, a bloodlust that she herself had put there…and it hung in the air around them. This was too much for her…too familiar…
much too painful to live through again.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked up and begged him…
“YOU B*STARD!! NOT AGAIN!! DON’T YOU MAKE ME GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN!!!”
CAST (In order of appearance)
Staff Master/Eric Andretti … Justin Spirit
Michelle Andretti … Delia Darling
Vixxxen … Katie Anderson
Reaver … Melissa Reeves
Gaia … Kate Steele
Brandon Knight … Ace Watson
Detective Stacey Jordan … Nina Stokes
Deimos … Redd Thunder
Sergeant Lockley … Ashley Marie Chase
Hexx/Anka … Kenzi Grey
Arella … Orchid
Directed by … DubbleFC
Screenplay by … Ron B.
Produced by … CTN Television Studios
Casting by … Maleek Raheem
Music by … Guilty Pleasure
Staff Master/Eric Andretti … Justin Spirit
Michelle Andretti … Delia Darling
Vixxxen … Katie Anderson
Reaver … Melissa Reeves
Gaia … Kate Steele
Brandon Knight … Ace Watson
Detective Stacey Jordan … Nina Stokes
Deimos … Redd Thunder
Sergeant Lockley … Ashley Marie Chase
Hexx/Anka … Kenzi Grey
Arella … Orchid
Directed by … DubbleFC
Screenplay by … Ron B.
Produced by … CTN Television Studios
Casting by … Maleek Raheem
Music by … Guilty Pleasure
