Selene sped down the 95th street listening to modern pop jams and licking her ice cream cone, they made a quick pit stop before she started driving to a safehouse. Owen just cried in the backseat with the ice cream melting down his hand.
"Anything you want to listen to?" Selene asks.
"Where are my parents?" Owen weakly asks in response.
"Somewhere between Go and Free Parking, kid." Selene says, staring forward. They were rapidly approaching the familiar streets of New DC.
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" Owen cries in the backseat.
"Kid." She turns around. "They're gone. It's just you now."
"WAIT?! NO?! HOW!? WHY!? I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"
"You don't have to. I'm telling you. It's going to be hard, but you'll pull through." Selene isn't typically the sentimental type. She's the get money type, a hustle woman, a seductress, a cold-hearted gold digger who's in it for the thrill. However, she remembers a time from a face she no longer wears.
A woman lays beaten and bloodied in an alley whilst it starts to rain. A young girl with mismatched eyes hides behind a dumpster, crying and holding her hands over her mouth. She watches the man spit on the woman and kick her.
"You fuckin' whore! Who do you think you are?" He says before kicking again.
"...p…please…" The woman weeps.
"Fucking $100 for that bullshit? Are you serious?! For that price, I could've sucked my own dick better than that!" The man holds onto the wall to get a better angle to kick this woman.
"Pl-ease!" The woman cries.
"How many other guys have you ripped off like this?" He rifles through her belongings for cash as she begs him to stop. "If I'm going to cheat on my wife, it had better been worth it."
The hiding child finally runs over to her mother. "STOP IT!" The child screams, shielding her mother.
"Fuck off me!" The man yells as he back hands the girl away, breaking his knuckle on the corner of her mouth.
"AVA!" The woman screams, crawling to protect her child.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going?!" The man yells again as he grabs the woman and presses his full weight upon her, wrapping his hands around her throat. "Why shouldn't I fucking kill you right now?" He says repeatedly slamming her against the wet ground.
The girl tries to get up, her vision is hazed and she can feel blood pooling in her mouth.
"A-Av-a…r-run. Forget…all..about me. I-I'm sorry…I wa-wanted t-t-to be a better mother." The woman cries as she's being choked.
"You have to." Selene says to Owen, snapping back to the present. "Oh right! Forgot I was driving, LOL!" Selene says with a chuckle, looking forward again. "Is that?" Selene questions as she squints her eyes to see what's coming upon them. Approaching from the other end of the road, was a man on foot, walking down the center of the street. Selene didn't know this man, nor Owen, but they were about to find out.
BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP
"GET THE FUCK OUT THE WAY! I'LL HIT YOU!" Selene yells from out the window of the car.
"You're not actually going to hit him are you?!?" Owen frantically asks, holding onto the grab handles.
"Baby boy, I'm a s u p e r v i l l a i n, of course I'm going to hit him." Selene laughs.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEP BEEEEEP
The man appears to be in priestly robes, as he walks he raises a hand into the air.
"WHO ARE YOU, A HITCHIKER? MOVE THE FUCK!" Selene followed by honking the horn again as Owen closed his eyes.
"I am-"
A long blade reaches into the sky from the man's arm.
"GOD'S BLADE!!!!!!"
Requiem slashes down and the air slices clean through the car Selene was driving, sending her and Owen skidding down opposite directions.
"OWEN!" Selene yells, although she typically could care less, she cared on instinct. When her half of the car comes to a stop, she takes her seatbelt off and sprints in Owen's direction. This blade wielding priest was situated in the middle of them now, but Selene didn't care. She ran full speed, charging the man who then tried to grab her. Selene quickly shifts into Rex, now being short enough to duck the grab and roll past him. Shifting back into herself, she makes it to Owen who's stuck in his seatbelt.
"I CAN'T! I CAN'T GET IT OFF!" Owen screams.
Selene flicks a karambit knife out and quickly slices Owen from his bind. "COME ON! LET'S GO!" Selene drags him by his collar and dashes away.
In Richville.
"LET'S GO! COME ON!" BP yells as he and High Roller trade gunfire on the highway.
FRRRRRRRR BRAP BRAP PEW PEW FAHHH PEW BRRRRRR BRAPP PEW
The streets were filled with shell casings and smoke as all of Bulletproof's bullets missed and all of High Roller's just proved BP's namesake. High Roller lazily reloads his six-shooter point blank range and BP blows on his thumb which pops a bullet out of his cheek, finishing their current round of loaded firearm hot potato.
"Looks like we're getting nowhere with this, you already got your money. Just go home." BP says breathing heavily.
"And look over my shoulder for the rest of my life for the zombie hitman? I'll take my chances, plus you sound tired." High Roller spins the chamber. "Must be a limit to all that healing, huh?"
"Me? Tired?" He breathed. "Never! I've just reached my gunner's high!" BP says hopping back and forth as High Roller rolls his eyes. "Looking over your shoulder all the time is just part of the job, but that got me thinking!" High Roller's eyes peak in curiosity. "If a lucky guy like you can get worried sometimes, there must be a limit on things you can actively change the outcome of?"
"Wanna make a bet?"
"I'd gamble it!" BP says firing a hail of bullets at High Roller who just sighs and nods his head, however when he looks up, he sees a grenade being thrown at him. Not just that, but a pair of knives fly at High Roller too, he focuses and time slows for just a few fractions of a second for breathing room. High Roller focused his energy into increasing the chances that the grenade was a dud so hard that he didn't realize the whip that was now wrapped around his leg. "Gotcha!" BP yells as he yanks High Roller towards him, finally connecting with an elbow to the jaw. Before High Roller can react BP clobbers him over the head, then again, and again, then a knee to the nose.
Blood squirts from High Roller's face as he blindly fires at BP who's now able to dodge due to High Roller's dizziness. BP spin kicks High Roller in the chest, sending him stumbling back. BP runs forward, jumps into the air to end it with a leaping cross. "Gotcha!" High Roller excitedly yells as a sawed off shotgun slides down his sleeve into his hand.
FAAAAAAWWW
BP's chest explodes open as he's sent flying backwards, landing on the ground rolling in flames. "GAHHHHHH!!!"
"Dragon's Breath. You like it? Regenerate through that! Ha!" High Roller screws the blue bottom off the shotgun loose and tosses it up and down. "Matter of fact, I'll help you." BP rolls onto his stomach and grits his teeth. His body is in a constant loop of burning and regenerating, BP discreetly loads Esmerelda with a blue colored magazine. "Play Ball!" High Roller says as he takes a pitcher's stance and throws the blue bottom at BP that explodes into a blue smoke. He holds his revolver up, squints an eye, sees a white tuft of hair and- PEW FAH FAH FAHHHH.
High Roller looks down and sees three streams of blood coming from his midsection. "H-How?" He clutches his stomach before falling down.
BP breathes heavily, leaning on a guard rail as he tries to stand up. "Blue Bottomed Bullets."
"Completely understandable." High Roller says as his eyes roll back.
BP finishes patting out the rest of the flames on his scorched flesh then limps to his motorcycle. "Hope this only lasts an hour. Whew!" BP says as he holds his shoulder. Since he was shot and burned while exposed to Reverted Godwinite, it would take a while before his body regenerated from this. BP limps past Reiko's, well technically Issho's body. "I hope both of you died, motherfucker!"
Flying through the air as a ghost, was Reiko. Scared, running on precious ethereal time. Similar to Roy's water form, when Reiko turns into a ghost, he has finite time to find a host before his soul returns to his original body. The problem? Reiko's original body died long, long ago, so he's been body-swapping for generations. What happens if he can't find a suitable host in the next 15 minutes or so? He didn't know, and didn't want to find out.
Back in NDC.
Selene and Owen ran for their lives with Requiem hot on their heels. A sudden flash of precognition flashes over Owen. He'd never used focus before. Another air slash, horizontal this time, Owen took it as fear and adrenaline clouding his mind. Albeit all the panic he manages to yell out.
"DUCK!"
"Wha-?" Selene asks as Owen falls to the ground, but before she can finish a slash as predicted finds its way across Selene's back. "ACKKK!!" She winces as she crashes onto the floor. The cut wasn't deep, it tore her jacket and broke the skin but it was a big cut nonetheless. She rolls over to her side and breathes heavily, Owen rushes to her aide and begs her to get up. She struggles to her knees and looks underneath her, seeing Requiem casually approach while upside down. "Owen..Run! Leave m-" When she finally gets up, Requiem is in front of her. "When did yo-" Requiem snatches up Owen and Selene by their throats.
Reiko flying overhead finally finds Owen, when things couldn't be worse. "MY HOST!" Reiko says flying down angrily. "LAY YOUR DIRTY STINKING FINGERS OFF MY HOST!" Reiko says as he flies into the body of Requiem. However, this wouldn't be his normal possession.
Someone else was already in there as well.
Typically people with weak or fractured wills can be possessed immediately. However, in a case like this Reiko has to subjugate his victim within their own mind realm. Requiem was naked, kneeling with his arms stretched in a room that's windows were his physical body's eyes. Reiko sneaked behind giggling. "Should be easy enough." He prepared to choke the soul of the priest but suddenly…
"Who are you?" A voice calls out from behind Reiko's spirit.
Reiko nervously turns around, there should only be the two of them in here. What the hell did he just stumble upon? "What?"
The man steps into the light of the mental room, it's the same man, however, he's a bit misshapen. More gaunt, his hair is wilder, unkept, teeth yellow. "You tryna' fuck or something? Hehe…it gets so lonely in here."
Reiko starts to metaphorically sweat as he backs away from them both. "What? What are you?"
The man looks down at Reiko's hands then to Requiem. "AH I SEE! THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE AFTER!"
In the physical plane, Requiem held Selene and Owen in the air and was walking back to the church as both of them kicked and gasped for air. "I promise not to hurt you two, anymore, as long as you don't resist God's grace."
"W-what-t…the fuck…are y-you talking about?" Selene says while being choked and taken away.
"Our priestess, God's Beauty, identified a potential devotee to our flock, I've been following him and she is correct in seeing his worth." Requiem states.
"W-what…does..that have…to do with me?" Selene coughs out. "L-let the…boy go."
"Our new candidate, interesting enough, is a blasphemer. He went on record saying he cares more about his romantic partner's adoration than God's. That's unacceptable."
"Luck-ky gal…I guess"
"Lucky you, I suppose. The boy seemed to be so infatuated with shapeshifters." Requiem says gleefully.
Selene's breath hitches. "Quintin!"
"Let's see what shape you take form of in the presence of God's glory." Requiem tried to laugh but something stopped him. A sudden seizure, dropping him to the ground, releasing Owen and Selene. The two quickly pick themselves up and dash in opposite directions.
"He's here for me Owen! Run for your life! And your life only!" Selene yells as she runs.
Inside Requiem's mind palace, Reiko was being tossed and thrown around by the mysterious man resembling the owner of the mind realm. Spiritual essence splattered all over the ground as the man ground pounds Reiko's face into the mental floor. Requiem's spirit suddenly gets up from his kneeling position.
"Remy! What's going on in here?!" Requiem asks his brother.
"OH YOU'VE GONE AND DONE IT NOW! YOU WOKE RIVEN UP!" Remy screams while choking Reiko, pausing to lick his face. "RIVEN IS IT MY TURN TO DRIVE?! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!" Remy yells excitedly while dropping Reiko to the mental floor.
Reiko tries to gather himself and make sense of what's going on, but before he can get up Riven kicks him in his spiritual chest across the room. "Yes, brother." He sighs. "First, bring the newest converts to the Father, then you're free to do as you please until I take back the reins."
"YES! YES!" Remy says, jumping up and down excitedly, pushing past Riven to get into the kneeling position at the center of the room.
"But no prostitutes!" Riven adds before turning back to Reiko. "I assume you have some type of possession power, yes?" Reiko slowly nods. "Yes, yes, I figured. By your astonished gaze, I can tell you haven't seen something like me and my brother here? Thought this would be easy enough?" Reiko nods again. "Ha. Well let this be a lesson to you…" An ethereal blade extends down Riven's spiritual arm.
"NEVER INTERFERE WITH GOD'S PLANS!"
Suddenly, Reiko was in the air again, as an intangible invisible ghost. Breathing heavily despite not needing to. The clock to find a suitable host starts again. Below him, Owen and Selene run separately, he can't get to Owen in time without having to deal with that freak again so Reiko cuts his losses and flies away.
Requiem regains consciousness after the internal struggle and gets up laughing. "THERE'S NOWHERE TO RUN!" Requiem holds his arms out on both sides and his fists detach and shoot off his body, both like throat-seeking missiles that latch back onto his fleeing captives. On both ends of the road Selene and Owen are caught by floating hands and slowly levitate back to Requiem.
"How!?" Selene asks in shock, carried by the neck like a newborn kitten. "You have two powers as well?!"
Requiem's head pops off and floats up to Selene. "JUST ONE OF THE MANY MIRACLES OF FATHER PACO!" His disembodied head bobs and spins in excitement. "RIVEN CUTS THINGS!" Requiem splits his face into slivers. "AND I CAN'T BE CUT! WE'RE A PERFECT TEAM!"
About 10 minutes out was BP, speeding blindly fast down the highway, unbeknownst to him, Reiko was fleeing in the opposite direction. The temporary-serpent-ghost flew straight into BP and took control with minimal effort, BP had been struggling to stay conscious as is. "Wait-what's going on!?" BP says as his body starts to lean back. He can feel his fingers being pried from the handlebars on the insides of his hands.
"This has been a wild ride hasn't it?" Reiko says as BP's eyes roll back. Reiko holds BP's arms out to his sides as the motorcycle sped towards a dead end. "Now crash and burn!" Reiko then leaves BP's body just as it crashes into a wall. The motorcycle explodes and BP, well most of him, is rag dolled across the pavement. However, unlike every other time, this time he doesn't get up.
A surveillance camera zooms in on the smoldering motorcycle and burning man on the ground. "Oh, man." The screen then flickers to Selene and Owen being kidnapped as they helplessly kick and scream. "Oh, man! Oh, man!" Rex says as he places his hands on his head. The screen then flickers to above the highway where High Roller's body is convulsing. "What the?" Rex questions before turning around and hopping out of his chair.
"HEY TREVORRRR!" Rex yells running out of his pristine all-white room to the industrial main chambers of Gunn Inc. The building had 75 floors and was shaped like a comically large gun despite architectural concerns. Inside the main corridor, also known as the barrel by employees, housed a gyroscopic chair sat by Trevor donning a face plate and working on a new device.
ZXXXT, ZXXXT, ZXXXT
"Trevorrrrr!!!" Rex yells again.
ZXXXT ZXXT, Trevor takes off his face plate and looks down at Rex. "Tell me you've finally figured it out! You've cracked time travel!" Trevor says excitedly.
"What, no, it's-"
"Awwwww! Bummer!" Trevor puts his face plate back down and continues working on the machine.
ZXXXT, ZXXXT, ZXXXT
"Trevvvorrrr! It's important!" Rex stomps his foot.
ZXXXT ZXXT, "Then out with it! I can multitask." ZXXT ZXXT
"Leenie is in trouble!" Rex stammers.
ZXXT "She's always in trouble, that's her thing." ZXXT ZXXT "She always manages to weasel herself out just fine."
"But her and some kid just got kidnapped by a blade wielding priest!"
"And what does that have to do with us exactly?" ZXXT ZXXT
"SHE'S OUR FRIEND, TREVOR!" Rex cries.
Trevor's chair whirs around to the other side of the machine. ZXXT ZXXT, "She might be YOUR friend, but I don't think she has too many of those. We're more of business partners! Trust me, it's mutual." ZXXXXXXT ZXXT ZXXT "Plus, she's got that boyfriend of hers. You know how many mobsters he killed over her? A priest should be easy." ZXXT ZXXT
"But Trevorrrrr, I think he died or something. I watched it all unfold on my cameras. He got burned real bad then he crashed into a wall and his bike exploded." Rex runs into his room to check then runs back to Trevor. "You said he heals from any wound right? Well, he's not healing now. Kinda reminds me of one of those crawlers from Call of Honor: Zombies, hehe."
"Oh, that's perfect! Finally, some news I care about. Bulletproof has been a thorn in my side for a while now!" Trevor says as he takes his face plate off again.
"Wait, why?!"
Trevor squeezes the bridge between his eyes. "So a few years ago, I copyrighted the name Bulletproof for my startup Bulletproof Technologies that provided prototype body armor to terrorists in Bilad al-Wusta and the insurgents of Afrikana. This was all a ploy for me to gain a multi-million-dollar defense contract with the government to supply them with better equipment to defeat said threat that I also created."
"Okayyyy, anddddd?"
"Right, I was getting ahead of myself. So I copyrighted the name and wellllll, he didn't like that too much. Coupled with the fact that I am a dashing young gentleman that just happens to know Selene." Trevor postures as Rex rolls his eyes. "He's been trying to kill me ever since. So, yeah. RIP Bozo." Trevor bluntly states before putting his face plate back up. ZXXT ZXXT ZXXT
"Trevor, you're such a meanie! Leenie is still a good person…sometimes. Either way, she doesn't deserve to be kidnapped." Rex points a finger.
"Meanie? What are you 9 years old?"
"11 but I'm-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Shut up. Plus, Trevor and Meanie doesn't even rhyme, now Meanie Leenie, that definitely rings a bell or two. Hehe" ZXXT ZXXT
"But that doesn't even make-"
"But hey, I won't stop you if you are infatuated with her as much as you say you are." Trevor says as his chair whirs to its starting position.
Rex, blushing, stomps his foot again. "I NEVER SAID THAT I WAS-"
"Save it!" Trevor says, taking his face plate off and resting it on his tool bench before getting up and cracking his neck. "I'm headed to Egypt in a few to collect more blood samples from the dig site, feel free to do as you please until I return. Maybe save your damsel in distress…" Trevor waves his fingers in Rex's face who swats him away. Trevor plucks the boy in the center of his forehead and walks towards the terrace.
"You mean it?" Rex says, rubbing his face.
"Just make sure you lock up, activate the security drones, water the plants…" Trevor says as he's walking. The nanomachines of his suit spread from underneath his clothes and over his body into shimmering purple armor. "...fire Todd, fire Sydney, fire Sydney's boyfriend, only cause I forget his name and it's going to be awkward when we run into each other in the break room, matter of fact go in the break room before you leave and fire everyone who's in there, except Phil, I like Phil. You know who I don't like? Ashley, she's a great worker, I just don't like her. Figure out something to fire her for…" Unbeknownst to Trevor, Rex had already frolicked out of the room once he heard he could do what he wanted.
Back in his room, Rex typed rapidly on his computer and the schematics of a mechanical suit appeared on four of his screens. On one of his surveillance screens, High Roller's body was still convulsing.
The reason why?
"God Damnit! Americans are so weak!" Reiko says, now inside High Roller's dying body, punching his chest repeatedly to keep his heart beating like a spiritual CPR. "Three bullets? Three! That was enough to kill you? Issho's body took a whole magazine and he still got me halfway up the street before perishing."
"They…were…blue..bullets" Embers of High Roller's psyche says to Reiko.
"So you ARE still alive in here! That's good! Stay with me! Let me get us out of here." Reiko says as he leans up slowly in High Roller's body, breathing heavily. Reiko feels the effects of the Reverted Godwinite within his temporary host. It made High Roller's body hard to control, like driving a car made out of sand. However, this wouldn't be Reiko's first run in with a blue bottom. In small quantities, some people like Reiko can power through the suppressing nature of a Reverted Godwinite fragment, especially as small as bullets. Reiko turns around to see the three bullets are on the ground and not still in High Roller's body. "You sure are lucky, aren't ya?"
A series of neurons light up in Reiko's mind. ".. / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. -. .----. - / ... .- -.-- / - .... .- -"
"What?!" Reiko spins his head around but no one is there.
".. .----. ...- . / ..-. --- ..- -. -.. / -.-- --- ..- --..-- / - .... . .-. . .----. ... / -. --- / . ... -.-. .- .--. . -.-.--" It goes again.
"What is the meaning of this?! Host! What's going on" Reiko panics as he slowly gets up, clutching High Roller's wounds as police sirens sound in the distance.
"It's…High Roller…not Host…and it's…morse code." Said by High Roller's psyche. "It said…it's watching you. What did you…get me into?"
"But where's it coming from!?! It's in our mind!!" Reiko stumbles and begins walking up the road opposite of the police sirens. "We NEED to get out of here!"
"Relax…I have a Double B Authority…let the paramedics do their job, we're better off that way…just tell them your name is Billy Bloom…with the Sleet Guild.
".-.-- .. -.-.- .-. -.-- --- -... .. .-. --. -..- .---. .-.-. .-.."
"What..the hell? I didn't even know…there was Japanese morse code." High Roller's psyche says in bewilderment.
"Japanese?" Reiko says as he looks to the sky as it suddenly turns dark and thunder bellows. Streaks of lightning crack and envelop the clouds in a bright light. Reiko squints High Roller's eyes and spots the shadow of a man standing behind the clouds.
"...-- --... .-.-.- --... ----- ---.. ..... --... ..... --..-- -....- --... --... .-.-.- --... -.... ---.. ----- ..... ----."
"It's…coordinates…"
"OH YEAHHHH?! THE BLACK SNAKE HAS CALLED ME OUT HUH?" Reiko says pointing to the sky. The shadow of the man disappears as the sky darkens again, now the clouds swirl around the figure. Roy, The Sixth Serpent.
Roy's two blue locs blow in the wind. "Funny. There's another joke to be made considering the Black Snake is also known as the Rat Snake but it'd be lost on you." Roy's electromagnetic field worked with surgical precision, targeting the delicate frequencies where communication travels between neurons. Essentially turning Reiko's brain into a biological radio receiver. Wherever he was, whatever body, Roy would know. Furthermore, by stimulating the auditory processing centers with carefully modulated waves, he could make them "hear" his morse code transmissions as if the electrical signals were actual sound.
"Who's…your friend, hehe?" High Roller manages out a chuckle.
"I apologize, Mr. Bloom." Roy transmits from the sky as it clears. He's seen with a modern blue haori flapping in the wind over top sleek black tactical pants. Two katana sheathes rest on his hip. "For three things: One, this ungrateful roach has prevented your death in a perverse and dishonorable attempt to prolong his already ending existence. Two, you will soon face an ungodly unjust and inhumane second death by housing this parasite. The wind carries Roy down, coming into frame. Revealing his ceremonial Snake Clan headguard and white war paint from his bottom lip down.
"Third is, I never introduced myself properly. My name is Roy Walker, the Sixth Serpent, the White-Lipped Python!"