Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2015 8:07:34 GMT -5
Titans of Justice Unlimited Chapter 5 – “Three Little Witches Part 2”
Written by: Scotty2Hotty & Power Guy
Edited by: Marcus Mebes
Khandaq…
A beautiful tan woman dressed in white strolled in the lush forest. Flowers sprang from the earth with each step she took and the trees seemed to lift their branches as she passed by. At first a jackal emerged to walk with her, then an antelope and two leopards. Before long Isis was surrounded by a menagerie of animals as she settled on a large rock. Even a king cobra curled up beside her sandaled feet, napping in the sun. The bride of Black Adam gazed into the stream before her, watching the fish leap out of the water performing flips for their queen. She laughed and clapped her hands as a breeze tossed her fragrant hair.
Isis had missed Khandaq. She enjoyed the United States, but the air in Khandaq was clean and pure. The water was a deep blue and most of all she missed the flowers native to her country. She thought of her husband and her heart swelled with joy knowing he had reserved tonight for the two of them exclusively.
Isis noticed the animals becoming agitated and soon each of them went scurrying away. The blue sky became cloudy and the sun was cloaked.
“That’s odd….” She thought as she noticed the stream suddenly dry up before her eyes, leaving the fish gasping for air.
“No!” She shouted as she leapt into the dry stream. Isis felt a presence that made her want to fly away to the safety of her palace, and she was overcome with nausea.
“What is this? It’s as if nature herself was stricken with plague!” she winced.
“Turn around and face me, blasphemer,” said a woman in a very harsh voice that sounded like a legion of damned souls all at once.
Isis could feel pestilence and decay emanating from the woman.
“You… you did this… the animals sensed you…” Isis said, steadying herself.
“They were smart to run. You should have left with them.” The woman threw her head back, opened her mouth, and released a stream of fire that resembled a backlash.
Isis summoned the winds to disperse the flames, but noticed the winds were almost hesitant to assist her.
The garish woman levitated to the air and glared at Isis.
“You! You claim to be a champion of Egypt. You wear an amulet crafted by the Egyptian goddesses themselves, yet you seek approval from the foreigners. You, Isis, are an interloper in your own land! And for that, the gods have demanded your blood!!” the woman said, leaping at Isis.
Isis stood her ground as the madwoman lunged at her. Isis belted her in the jaw with her left fist. “I’ll thank Nightvision for that street training. I never thought I’d get to use it,” she thought.
Isis flew to the sky and summoned the winds once again and this time they were eager to help her, with her mind being cleared.
“I do not know you woman, nor do I wish to quarrel. You attacked the queen of this land unprovoked. Thank whatever gods you claim to hold so dear that my king is not here. He would have your head!” Isis shouted.
“Ah yes, Teth Adam. I have a special punishment for him! But perhaps I will allow him to place his hands all over my body and show him things only a real woman can do!” the stranger hissed.
“You dare speak of my beloved in such a manner?!” Isis screamed. She knew the woman was pushing her buttons, but Isis was still a woman—a woman very in love with her husband.
“Enough!” the stranger shouted.
Isis noticed the ground shaking and noticed a sandstorm heading towards her. The wind and sand battered the beautiful monarch into a cliff, but Isis was able to pull herself up and stood on a rock.
“You pervert nature… you abuse her! I can hear her crying out at your effrontery!” Isis yelled as she flew fists-first into the woman’s gut. Isis was unrelenting, using all of her fury as she pummeled the woman.
The stranger kicked Isis off and back-flipped, landing on her feet.
“My name is Nefertiti. Remember it, for I shall be the one known for killing the heretic bride of Teth-Adam!”
“Well, Nefertiti I doubt you are any relation to the woman whose name you bastardize and I know she must be shuddering in the afterlife knowing how you have tarnished her name,” Isis stated as she summoned a thunderstorm.
“Trying to wash away your crimes against Egypt?” Nefertiti shrieked as she once again used her fire breath. Isis tripped as she dodged it and Nefertiti was on her with speed of a cheetah.
The madwoman proceeded to strike Isis repeatedly. “Have you ever felt the strength of one thousand bulls, woman? I bet when Adam is having relations with you it must feel the same!”
Isis met her blow for blow, but something about Nefertiti was interfering with Isis’s connection with nature. No matter how Isis struggled, it was almost as if Nefertiti could anticipate her every move. The villain grabbed her by the throat and dug her knee into Isis’s chest.
“Now… how about a little kiss? I bet your mouth is like a honeysuckle! You should be honored! You will be the first member of Anubis’s army!!!” Isis turned her head and tried to get leverage as Nefertiti lowered her mouth towards hers. She could smell death pouring of this woman.
“GET-YOUR-HANDS-OFF-MY-WIFE!” came a booming voice. The force of the words set the hairs on both women’s arms on end.
“Teth-Adam! Did you come to watch me seduce your woman?” Nefertiti asked, momentarily uninterested in Isis. “We can have a threesome next if you’re UP to it.”
“You dare place your hands on the queen of Khandaq? I shall cut those hands off myself, harlot!” Khandaq’s king shouted as he punched Nefertiti several feet backwards. He noticed his fist actually hurt from the punch.
“You like it rough? GOOD! That’s what I’m known for!” Nefertiti shouted as she flew at Black Adam, her hands grasping his skull. Black Adam stumbled backwards into the dry streambed.
Nefertiti shouted, “SANDS! TO ME!!” At her command, the dirt in the once-flowing streambed filled Black Adam’s eyes. Nefertiti ripped ay his costume, revealing his muscular chest. He could feel her hot tongue licking him as he struggled to get the grainy dirt out of his eyes.
“Maybe I can use you to sire before I kill you!” Nefertiti said, as she slashed Black Adam’s chest with her jeweled fingernails. She licked the blood from her fingers and was about to kiss him.
“Not today, witch!” Isis shouted as she struck Nefertiti in the back of the head with a large tree limb. Any normal woman would have been killed by the blow, but the villainess merely grabbed the limb and threw it back at her.
By now Black Adam was up and he flew to Isis’s side.
“Two against one? That hardly seems fair!” Nefertiti said, rubbing her thighs seductively.
Black Adam glanced at his wife. Isis winked back at him. Suddenly a wind like a cyclone erupted behind Isis and Black Adam and hurtled towards Nefertiti. The wind knocked Nefertiti back and Adam used the opportunity to punch her in between the eyes with all of his might.
“That actually hurt!” Nefertiti shrieked. Isis noticed that the woman kept touching a strange dark gem. Nefertiti was on her feet, eyes glowing red. “I’ve wasted enough time on you two!” she said, tossing her head back opening her mouth to release her fire breath.
With the speed of a gazelle Isis grabbed the dark jewel, trying to rip it from Nefertiti’s necklace.
Isis recoiled as she jerked her hand away from the icy-cold gem. Just merely touching it gave the queen of Khandaq frost-bite.
Nefertiti suddenly heard the voice of Anubis.
“Leave them child. Call on Bast to grant you the speed of the cheetahs. You have shown them you are force to be reckoned with. Teth Adam and his bride will tell them, and soon the world will know you and be filled with dread at the whisper of your name.”
And with that Nefertiti summoned one of the gifts of Bast as well as an earthquake, which sent Isis and Black Adam to the ground as the earth cracked beneath them. As soon as Nefertiti was out of sight, the tremors stopped.
“Adam! My love, you’re bleeding!” Isis said as she pressed her hands on her husband’s bleeding chest.
“I will live, beloved. Are you hurt?” he asked, wiping a tear from Isis’s bruised cheek.
“No, I am more hurt seeing what she did to you… and what she was thinking when she dared touch you,” she added, helping her husband to her feet. “Adam! Look!” she gasped. The couple glanced around them. What had been a lush forest teeming with life was now a barren wasteland. Animal skeletons lined the dead ground and Isis began to cry.
“Wh… what was she?” Isis sobbed.
“She… she is death,” Black Adam whispered as he wrapped his arms around his wife and a chill went up his spine.
***
Opal City…
Stellar streaked through the city after viewing the news report of all of the chaos going on downtown. As he got closer to the downtown area, he noticed a large dome of pure blackness. “Who could be behind this?” he asked himself. “It certainly can’t be the Shade since I was just with him and he’s been free of Culp’s possession for years. Nightfall maybe? Obsidian gone bad again?” Flying downward, he plunged himself into the darkness. It was so dark, he could barely see even with the light that this Cosmic-converter belt was giving off. “I hear people screaming but I can’t see them. They all must be in a state of panic due to this dark substance. Maybe I’d better call in some of the Titans to help with the crowd control and rescue operations,” he said aloud.
Then, out of nowhere, a female voice spoke. “It figures one of you costumed panty-boys would show up,” The darkness dispersed slightly to reveal the form of the new, female Shade; however, it seemed as those there were plenty of shadows still obscuring the view of her face. “It really doesn’t matter as the darkness will grow further and wider until the entire earth is eclipsed!”
“Not gonna happen,” countered Stellar as he barraged the shrouded woman with a blast of shooting-stars. She in turn, fired back a beam of pure blackness, colliding with Stellar’s “stars.”
“You think your little sparkles can stop me?” questioned the Shade. “Think again, little boy blue!”
“Let’s try a more direct approach then,” Stellar said, flying up to the Shade and grabbing her cane. “Who are you? Some Shade wannabe?”
The two opponents struggled over the cane, each pulling with all of their might.
“Wannabe? Hardly… try new and vastly improved. Now, let go!” demanded the Shade, becoming angry.
“Drop the cane, missy, or things are gonna get rough,” Stellar stated firmly.
The Shade lost her temper and punched Stellar in the face. The young hero was not expecting her to get physical so the blow to his nose caught him completely off guard and he lost his grip on the cane.
“You want my Nightstick?” teased the daughter of darkness. “I’ll give it to you then!” she said pointing her cane at the stellar-powered teen. Out of the cane, a stream of black bats emerged, swarming Stellar, and wrapping themselves around the teen hero, covering him from head to toe.
Stellar struggled to get free of the dark substance but found that it wouldn’t come off, no matter how hard he pulled. “What is this stuff and why am I freezing all of a sudden?” He started to become colder and colder. In addition to that, he felt like her was getting nervous, a little bit scared even. “So c-c-c-cold and d-d-dark. Everyth-thing’s black…” Soon he found himself plummeting to ground. With the loss of his confidence, he could no longer use his Cosmic Converter Belt to keep himself aloft.
As he fell downward, he was sure he was about to meet his demise by splattering all over the ground. “I can’t believe I’m going to be done in by some newbie villain.”
Lucky for the young hero, he crashed into an open garbage dumpster which somewhat cushioned his fall. “OUCH!!!” he shouted as his back hit the assorted trash.
By now, the son of Stargirl and Captain Marvel was shivering from the cold darkness. “I’ve got get this gunk off me,” he decided. Cranking his belt up as high as it would go, the young hero finally burst free from the dark, murky substance in a blast of light. To Stellar’s surprise, all of the dark substance in the area had dissipated as though it was never there. “Okay, what just happened here?” he said looking around. He then flew up to the rooftop where he had confronted the new Shade only to find the rooftop empty. “Ugh… where’d she disappear to?” he said, talking to himself. “She must be some goofy Goth girl that’s obsessed with the Shade’s old brand of mischief.” He sniffed, recoiling from the scent of trash. “BLECH! I need a shower and some clean clothes,” he mumbled, disgusted by the stench that had soiled his costume.
Later at the Swift home, Richard Swift was brewing himself a pot of Earl Gray Tea. He needed the energy its caffeine would provide so that he could continue searching for his daughter Rachel. “Why would she run away at a time like this?” he asked himself. “She has so much going for her right now. To screw it all up could cost her big time as far as her future goes.”
***
Fresno, CA…
Frank Torrealba parked his truck in the driveway of his rented home. It was small, but he and his wife, Lourdes kept it clean and took pride in the house where they had spent the past few years. He had come a long way from the gang member called Lil’ Frankie. In fact, after what he did to that red haired lady Frank turned his life around. He never told anyone about his part in the woman’s abduction and what happened to her still haunted him, despite his efforts to forget. He had gotten help for the drug problem that plagued his youth and now he wouldn’t even take a Tylenol PM. Lil’ Frankie was someone else and since he was drugged up in his teen years, it was almost like another person’s memories. Moving across the country was a step in the right direction too.
He was almost finished with his bachelor degree and was up for a promotion at the grocery store. Yes, big things were in the future for Frank and his family.
Meeting Lourdes and the birth of their daughter, Marisol had really shown him how lucky he was. When he left the street gang, they never tried to find him and he was positive they never would. Many of them were dead now anyway--either from drugs, suicide, or something else. In fact, he heard through the grapevine that the gang leader had been found dismembered about a month ago.
He made his way into the kitchen.
“Frank! You’re home early!” Lourdes said, kissing his cheek.
“Daddy!” Marisol shouted as she hugged her father around the knees. He picked her up and put her on his shoulders and walked to the living room.
“The realtor called. She’s certain they’ll take our bid.” Lourdes said, sitting a glass of tea on the end table.
“That’s great! Lourdes, that new house will be ours! A house where no one else has ever lived. All ours! No landlord--and we can paint the walls whatever color we want!” Frank said, holding his wife’s hand.
“Even purple, daddy?” Marisol asked.
“Even purple, baby.” Frank said smiling at his daughter.
Later that night, Lourdes was folding laundry and Frank was finishing up a research paper.
“This business degree is really going to pay off. If I get this promotion, I could be in a suit at a desk this time next year. Marisol will go to a good school and Lourdes can stay home.” he thought. He heard Marisol cry out. Before he could get up, he heard Lourdes rush into her room. The sound of his wife’s voice calming Marisol, soothed him as well.
Lourdes came into the living room and put her arms around Frank’s neck.
‘Everything ok?” he queried.
“Just a bad dream. She thinks her toys are watching her.” Lourdes said stroking Frank’s dark hair.
“She’s got an imagination. She’ll probably grow up to be a writer or something.” Frank said as he and Lourdes turned in for the night.
“MOMMY!!! DADDYYYY!!!!!!” Marisol shrieked. Frank and Lourdes woke up and a thunderstorm was causing all kinds of noise.
“I’ll go.” Lourdes said yawning. “I have the day off tomorrow and it sounds like it’s going to be a long night.”
Minutes later, Lourdes was back.
“Frank, she’s upset. She swears one her toys is moving. I told her it was the lightning flashing that made it look that way. I’m going to stay in there until she falls asleep. You spoil that girl rotten…and that rag doll you brought her is kind of creepy.”
Frank was so exhausted from work and school, he barely heard what his wife said, but he got the gist. He rolled over and went to sleep. “I didn’t buy any rag doll…” he thought as he drifted back to sleep.
BOOOMMMMM!!!! A loud crash of thunder woke Frank. He looked at the clock and it was 3:00am. He noticed Lourdes wasn’t back.
“I better wake her up so she can get back in bed. Last time she slept in Marisol’s bed, her neck was out of whack for a week.” he thought as he stumbled down the hall.
He noticed the door to his daughter’s room was cracked and he gently opened it, hoping the creak wouldn’t wake his listless child. Lourdes was scrunched up and still.
“Her neck and her back will be out of kilter.” he thought as he put his hand on his wife’s shoulder.
Lightning flashed and illuminated the child’s room. What Frank saw made him nearly vomit.
Lourdes was wide eyed and covered in blood. Her right hand was gone and blood poured from all her over her body. Lying next to her was the mutilated body of Marisol.
Frank gasped.
“No. No.” he said as he felt his breathing become labored. Who did this? Was this the gang getting him back for quitting? How did they find him?
Frank’s hand covered his mouth as he stumbled backwards. Beads of sweat popped up on his forehead and his head was spinning. As he backed into a corner where Marisol had a ton of toys, he suddenly felt some….thing touch his shoulder. Frank spun around to see a doll….almost as tall as a grown adult…..reaching it’s arm out to grab him. Frank’s eyes widened as he realized someone was underneath the tattered dress and scraggly red hair.
He couldn’t scream and he felt as if his heart was pounding out of his chest as the “doll” stood up shakily. He thought he heard bones popping and the doll or person…or whatever it was resembled a new born pony trying to stand.
You just f@cked up! I’m gonna kill you! Frank shouted, trying to get to his feet.
The rag doll merely stared at him, cocking its head. He could hear its rattled breath and was horrified as it made its way toward him, the lightning highlighting the bloody sickle it shakily held.
Frank scooted out the door on all fours. “The gun….the gun….” he thought. Lourdes hated having it in the house and he thought he would never have to use it.
Frank was now in the hall and was scurrying to the closet where the gun was. He looked back and the rag doll was standing in the doorway looking at him, head leaning to one side. She began her grotesque walk towards him.
The doll had matted scraggly red hair hanging over her face, which was covered with some type of stiched rags…almost like a Raggedy Ann doll face. He swore he saw an eye move through a hole in the cloth. The gun…the gun would stop whoever was in that get up.
Before he could get any further the monster was on him. It grabbed him by the throat and its rattled breathing was getting louder. Its legs were shifting all over and its long scarred arms lunged for his neck.
“Goddd!!!!!” Frank pleaded.
The rag doll creature hoisted Frank in the air, the entire time its frame shaking.
‘DO IT YOU FREAK! Y..you’ve taken all I care about…f@cking kill me, d@mmit!
He thought he heard it giggle in a hoarse voice.
For a moment he made eye contact with the eye through the cloth. The eye was icy blue..unusual looking. He had only seen eyes like that once before. The rag doll’s grip on his throat tightened and he could feel the scar tissues on its fingers pressing into his neck.
“It’s you……you didn’t die….that night….” Frank muttered as he realized who had killed his family.
With that, the creature that was once Rosa Keyes raised her sickle and slashed Frank from his neck to his groin. She dropped him to the floor and began a slashing frenzy that left Frank Torrealba unrecognizable the next day when an unsuspecting realtor discovered the work of the Rag Doll.
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST BELOW
Written by: Scotty2Hotty & Power Guy
Edited by: Marcus Mebes
Khandaq…
A beautiful tan woman dressed in white strolled in the lush forest. Flowers sprang from the earth with each step she took and the trees seemed to lift their branches as she passed by. At first a jackal emerged to walk with her, then an antelope and two leopards. Before long Isis was surrounded by a menagerie of animals as she settled on a large rock. Even a king cobra curled up beside her sandaled feet, napping in the sun. The bride of Black Adam gazed into the stream before her, watching the fish leap out of the water performing flips for their queen. She laughed and clapped her hands as a breeze tossed her fragrant hair.
Isis had missed Khandaq. She enjoyed the United States, but the air in Khandaq was clean and pure. The water was a deep blue and most of all she missed the flowers native to her country. She thought of her husband and her heart swelled with joy knowing he had reserved tonight for the two of them exclusively.
Isis noticed the animals becoming agitated and soon each of them went scurrying away. The blue sky became cloudy and the sun was cloaked.
“That’s odd….” She thought as she noticed the stream suddenly dry up before her eyes, leaving the fish gasping for air.
“No!” She shouted as she leapt into the dry stream. Isis felt a presence that made her want to fly away to the safety of her palace, and she was overcome with nausea.
“What is this? It’s as if nature herself was stricken with plague!” she winced.
“Turn around and face me, blasphemer,” said a woman in a very harsh voice that sounded like a legion of damned souls all at once.
Isis could feel pestilence and decay emanating from the woman.
“You… you did this… the animals sensed you…” Isis said, steadying herself.
“They were smart to run. You should have left with them.” The woman threw her head back, opened her mouth, and released a stream of fire that resembled a backlash.
Isis summoned the winds to disperse the flames, but noticed the winds were almost hesitant to assist her.
The garish woman levitated to the air and glared at Isis.
“You! You claim to be a champion of Egypt. You wear an amulet crafted by the Egyptian goddesses themselves, yet you seek approval from the foreigners. You, Isis, are an interloper in your own land! And for that, the gods have demanded your blood!!” the woman said, leaping at Isis.
Isis stood her ground as the madwoman lunged at her. Isis belted her in the jaw with her left fist. “I’ll thank Nightvision for that street training. I never thought I’d get to use it,” she thought.
Isis flew to the sky and summoned the winds once again and this time they were eager to help her, with her mind being cleared.
“I do not know you woman, nor do I wish to quarrel. You attacked the queen of this land unprovoked. Thank whatever gods you claim to hold so dear that my king is not here. He would have your head!” Isis shouted.
“Ah yes, Teth Adam. I have a special punishment for him! But perhaps I will allow him to place his hands all over my body and show him things only a real woman can do!” the stranger hissed.
“You dare speak of my beloved in such a manner?!” Isis screamed. She knew the woman was pushing her buttons, but Isis was still a woman—a woman very in love with her husband.
“Enough!” the stranger shouted.
Isis noticed the ground shaking and noticed a sandstorm heading towards her. The wind and sand battered the beautiful monarch into a cliff, but Isis was able to pull herself up and stood on a rock.
“You pervert nature… you abuse her! I can hear her crying out at your effrontery!” Isis yelled as she flew fists-first into the woman’s gut. Isis was unrelenting, using all of her fury as she pummeled the woman.
The stranger kicked Isis off and back-flipped, landing on her feet.
“My name is Nefertiti. Remember it, for I shall be the one known for killing the heretic bride of Teth-Adam!”
“Well, Nefertiti I doubt you are any relation to the woman whose name you bastardize and I know she must be shuddering in the afterlife knowing how you have tarnished her name,” Isis stated as she summoned a thunderstorm.
“Trying to wash away your crimes against Egypt?” Nefertiti shrieked as she once again used her fire breath. Isis tripped as she dodged it and Nefertiti was on her with speed of a cheetah.
The madwoman proceeded to strike Isis repeatedly. “Have you ever felt the strength of one thousand bulls, woman? I bet when Adam is having relations with you it must feel the same!”
Isis met her blow for blow, but something about Nefertiti was interfering with Isis’s connection with nature. No matter how Isis struggled, it was almost as if Nefertiti could anticipate her every move. The villain grabbed her by the throat and dug her knee into Isis’s chest.
“Now… how about a little kiss? I bet your mouth is like a honeysuckle! You should be honored! You will be the first member of Anubis’s army!!!” Isis turned her head and tried to get leverage as Nefertiti lowered her mouth towards hers. She could smell death pouring of this woman.
“GET-YOUR-HANDS-OFF-MY-WIFE!” came a booming voice. The force of the words set the hairs on both women’s arms on end.
“Teth-Adam! Did you come to watch me seduce your woman?” Nefertiti asked, momentarily uninterested in Isis. “We can have a threesome next if you’re UP to it.”
“You dare place your hands on the queen of Khandaq? I shall cut those hands off myself, harlot!” Khandaq’s king shouted as he punched Nefertiti several feet backwards. He noticed his fist actually hurt from the punch.
“You like it rough? GOOD! That’s what I’m known for!” Nefertiti shouted as she flew at Black Adam, her hands grasping his skull. Black Adam stumbled backwards into the dry streambed.
Nefertiti shouted, “SANDS! TO ME!!” At her command, the dirt in the once-flowing streambed filled Black Adam’s eyes. Nefertiti ripped ay his costume, revealing his muscular chest. He could feel her hot tongue licking him as he struggled to get the grainy dirt out of his eyes.
“Maybe I can use you to sire before I kill you!” Nefertiti said, as she slashed Black Adam’s chest with her jeweled fingernails. She licked the blood from her fingers and was about to kiss him.
“Not today, witch!” Isis shouted as she struck Nefertiti in the back of the head with a large tree limb. Any normal woman would have been killed by the blow, but the villainess merely grabbed the limb and threw it back at her.
By now Black Adam was up and he flew to Isis’s side.
“Two against one? That hardly seems fair!” Nefertiti said, rubbing her thighs seductively.
Black Adam glanced at his wife. Isis winked back at him. Suddenly a wind like a cyclone erupted behind Isis and Black Adam and hurtled towards Nefertiti. The wind knocked Nefertiti back and Adam used the opportunity to punch her in between the eyes with all of his might.
“That actually hurt!” Nefertiti shrieked. Isis noticed that the woman kept touching a strange dark gem. Nefertiti was on her feet, eyes glowing red. “I’ve wasted enough time on you two!” she said, tossing her head back opening her mouth to release her fire breath.
With the speed of a gazelle Isis grabbed the dark jewel, trying to rip it from Nefertiti’s necklace.
Isis recoiled as she jerked her hand away from the icy-cold gem. Just merely touching it gave the queen of Khandaq frost-bite.
Nefertiti suddenly heard the voice of Anubis.
“Leave them child. Call on Bast to grant you the speed of the cheetahs. You have shown them you are force to be reckoned with. Teth Adam and his bride will tell them, and soon the world will know you and be filled with dread at the whisper of your name.”
And with that Nefertiti summoned one of the gifts of Bast as well as an earthquake, which sent Isis and Black Adam to the ground as the earth cracked beneath them. As soon as Nefertiti was out of sight, the tremors stopped.
“Adam! My love, you’re bleeding!” Isis said as she pressed her hands on her husband’s bleeding chest.
“I will live, beloved. Are you hurt?” he asked, wiping a tear from Isis’s bruised cheek.
“No, I am more hurt seeing what she did to you… and what she was thinking when she dared touch you,” she added, helping her husband to her feet. “Adam! Look!” she gasped. The couple glanced around them. What had been a lush forest teeming with life was now a barren wasteland. Animal skeletons lined the dead ground and Isis began to cry.
“Wh… what was she?” Isis sobbed.
“She… she is death,” Black Adam whispered as he wrapped his arms around his wife and a chill went up his spine.
***
Opal City…
Stellar streaked through the city after viewing the news report of all of the chaos going on downtown. As he got closer to the downtown area, he noticed a large dome of pure blackness. “Who could be behind this?” he asked himself. “It certainly can’t be the Shade since I was just with him and he’s been free of Culp’s possession for years. Nightfall maybe? Obsidian gone bad again?” Flying downward, he plunged himself into the darkness. It was so dark, he could barely see even with the light that this Cosmic-converter belt was giving off. “I hear people screaming but I can’t see them. They all must be in a state of panic due to this dark substance. Maybe I’d better call in some of the Titans to help with the crowd control and rescue operations,” he said aloud.
Then, out of nowhere, a female voice spoke. “It figures one of you costumed panty-boys would show up,” The darkness dispersed slightly to reveal the form of the new, female Shade; however, it seemed as those there were plenty of shadows still obscuring the view of her face. “It really doesn’t matter as the darkness will grow further and wider until the entire earth is eclipsed!”
“Not gonna happen,” countered Stellar as he barraged the shrouded woman with a blast of shooting-stars. She in turn, fired back a beam of pure blackness, colliding with Stellar’s “stars.”
“You think your little sparkles can stop me?” questioned the Shade. “Think again, little boy blue!”
“Let’s try a more direct approach then,” Stellar said, flying up to the Shade and grabbing her cane. “Who are you? Some Shade wannabe?”
The two opponents struggled over the cane, each pulling with all of their might.
“Wannabe? Hardly… try new and vastly improved. Now, let go!” demanded the Shade, becoming angry.
“Drop the cane, missy, or things are gonna get rough,” Stellar stated firmly.
The Shade lost her temper and punched Stellar in the face. The young hero was not expecting her to get physical so the blow to his nose caught him completely off guard and he lost his grip on the cane.
“You want my Nightstick?” teased the daughter of darkness. “I’ll give it to you then!” she said pointing her cane at the stellar-powered teen. Out of the cane, a stream of black bats emerged, swarming Stellar, and wrapping themselves around the teen hero, covering him from head to toe.
Stellar struggled to get free of the dark substance but found that it wouldn’t come off, no matter how hard he pulled. “What is this stuff and why am I freezing all of a sudden?” He started to become colder and colder. In addition to that, he felt like her was getting nervous, a little bit scared even. “So c-c-c-cold and d-d-dark. Everyth-thing’s black…” Soon he found himself plummeting to ground. With the loss of his confidence, he could no longer use his Cosmic Converter Belt to keep himself aloft.
As he fell downward, he was sure he was about to meet his demise by splattering all over the ground. “I can’t believe I’m going to be done in by some newbie villain.”
Lucky for the young hero, he crashed into an open garbage dumpster which somewhat cushioned his fall. “OUCH!!!” he shouted as his back hit the assorted trash.
By now, the son of Stargirl and Captain Marvel was shivering from the cold darkness. “I’ve got get this gunk off me,” he decided. Cranking his belt up as high as it would go, the young hero finally burst free from the dark, murky substance in a blast of light. To Stellar’s surprise, all of the dark substance in the area had dissipated as though it was never there. “Okay, what just happened here?” he said looking around. He then flew up to the rooftop where he had confronted the new Shade only to find the rooftop empty. “Ugh… where’d she disappear to?” he said, talking to himself. “She must be some goofy Goth girl that’s obsessed with the Shade’s old brand of mischief.” He sniffed, recoiling from the scent of trash. “BLECH! I need a shower and some clean clothes,” he mumbled, disgusted by the stench that had soiled his costume.
Later at the Swift home, Richard Swift was brewing himself a pot of Earl Gray Tea. He needed the energy its caffeine would provide so that he could continue searching for his daughter Rachel. “Why would she run away at a time like this?” he asked himself. “She has so much going for her right now. To screw it all up could cost her big time as far as her future goes.”
***
Fresno, CA…
Frank Torrealba parked his truck in the driveway of his rented home. It was small, but he and his wife, Lourdes kept it clean and took pride in the house where they had spent the past few years. He had come a long way from the gang member called Lil’ Frankie. In fact, after what he did to that red haired lady Frank turned his life around. He never told anyone about his part in the woman’s abduction and what happened to her still haunted him, despite his efforts to forget. He had gotten help for the drug problem that plagued his youth and now he wouldn’t even take a Tylenol PM. Lil’ Frankie was someone else and since he was drugged up in his teen years, it was almost like another person’s memories. Moving across the country was a step in the right direction too.
He was almost finished with his bachelor degree and was up for a promotion at the grocery store. Yes, big things were in the future for Frank and his family.
Meeting Lourdes and the birth of their daughter, Marisol had really shown him how lucky he was. When he left the street gang, they never tried to find him and he was positive they never would. Many of them were dead now anyway--either from drugs, suicide, or something else. In fact, he heard through the grapevine that the gang leader had been found dismembered about a month ago.
He made his way into the kitchen.
“Frank! You’re home early!” Lourdes said, kissing his cheek.
“Daddy!” Marisol shouted as she hugged her father around the knees. He picked her up and put her on his shoulders and walked to the living room.
“The realtor called. She’s certain they’ll take our bid.” Lourdes said, sitting a glass of tea on the end table.
“That’s great! Lourdes, that new house will be ours! A house where no one else has ever lived. All ours! No landlord--and we can paint the walls whatever color we want!” Frank said, holding his wife’s hand.
“Even purple, daddy?” Marisol asked.
“Even purple, baby.” Frank said smiling at his daughter.
Later that night, Lourdes was folding laundry and Frank was finishing up a research paper.
“This business degree is really going to pay off. If I get this promotion, I could be in a suit at a desk this time next year. Marisol will go to a good school and Lourdes can stay home.” he thought. He heard Marisol cry out. Before he could get up, he heard Lourdes rush into her room. The sound of his wife’s voice calming Marisol, soothed him as well.
Lourdes came into the living room and put her arms around Frank’s neck.
‘Everything ok?” he queried.
“Just a bad dream. She thinks her toys are watching her.” Lourdes said stroking Frank’s dark hair.
“She’s got an imagination. She’ll probably grow up to be a writer or something.” Frank said as he and Lourdes turned in for the night.
“MOMMY!!! DADDYYYY!!!!!!” Marisol shrieked. Frank and Lourdes woke up and a thunderstorm was causing all kinds of noise.
“I’ll go.” Lourdes said yawning. “I have the day off tomorrow and it sounds like it’s going to be a long night.”
Minutes later, Lourdes was back.
“Frank, she’s upset. She swears one her toys is moving. I told her it was the lightning flashing that made it look that way. I’m going to stay in there until she falls asleep. You spoil that girl rotten…and that rag doll you brought her is kind of creepy.”
Frank was so exhausted from work and school, he barely heard what his wife said, but he got the gist. He rolled over and went to sleep. “I didn’t buy any rag doll…” he thought as he drifted back to sleep.
BOOOMMMMM!!!! A loud crash of thunder woke Frank. He looked at the clock and it was 3:00am. He noticed Lourdes wasn’t back.
“I better wake her up so she can get back in bed. Last time she slept in Marisol’s bed, her neck was out of whack for a week.” he thought as he stumbled down the hall.
He noticed the door to his daughter’s room was cracked and he gently opened it, hoping the creak wouldn’t wake his listless child. Lourdes was scrunched up and still.
“Her neck and her back will be out of kilter.” he thought as he put his hand on his wife’s shoulder.
Lightning flashed and illuminated the child’s room. What Frank saw made him nearly vomit.
Lourdes was wide eyed and covered in blood. Her right hand was gone and blood poured from all her over her body. Lying next to her was the mutilated body of Marisol.
Frank gasped.
“No. No.” he said as he felt his breathing become labored. Who did this? Was this the gang getting him back for quitting? How did they find him?
Frank’s hand covered his mouth as he stumbled backwards. Beads of sweat popped up on his forehead and his head was spinning. As he backed into a corner where Marisol had a ton of toys, he suddenly felt some….thing touch his shoulder. Frank spun around to see a doll….almost as tall as a grown adult…..reaching it’s arm out to grab him. Frank’s eyes widened as he realized someone was underneath the tattered dress and scraggly red hair.
He couldn’t scream and he felt as if his heart was pounding out of his chest as the “doll” stood up shakily. He thought he heard bones popping and the doll or person…or whatever it was resembled a new born pony trying to stand.
You just f@cked up! I’m gonna kill you! Frank shouted, trying to get to his feet.
The rag doll merely stared at him, cocking its head. He could hear its rattled breath and was horrified as it made its way toward him, the lightning highlighting the bloody sickle it shakily held.
Frank scooted out the door on all fours. “The gun….the gun….” he thought. Lourdes hated having it in the house and he thought he would never have to use it.
Frank was now in the hall and was scurrying to the closet where the gun was. He looked back and the rag doll was standing in the doorway looking at him, head leaning to one side. She began her grotesque walk towards him.
The doll had matted scraggly red hair hanging over her face, which was covered with some type of stiched rags…almost like a Raggedy Ann doll face. He swore he saw an eye move through a hole in the cloth. The gun…the gun would stop whoever was in that get up.
Before he could get any further the monster was on him. It grabbed him by the throat and its rattled breathing was getting louder. Its legs were shifting all over and its long scarred arms lunged for his neck.
“Goddd!!!!!” Frank pleaded.
The rag doll creature hoisted Frank in the air, the entire time its frame shaking.
‘DO IT YOU FREAK! Y..you’ve taken all I care about…f@cking kill me, d@mmit!
He thought he heard it giggle in a hoarse voice.
For a moment he made eye contact with the eye through the cloth. The eye was icy blue..unusual looking. He had only seen eyes like that once before. The rag doll’s grip on his throat tightened and he could feel the scar tissues on its fingers pressing into his neck.
“It’s you……you didn’t die….that night….” Frank muttered as he realized who had killed his family.
With that, the creature that was once Rosa Keyes raised her sickle and slashed Frank from his neck to his groin. She dropped him to the floor and began a slashing frenzy that left Frank Torrealba unrecognizable the next day when an unsuspecting realtor discovered the work of the Rag Doll.
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST BELOW
