Chapter 22: Enter Ravager

Word Count : 11145

Me: (Falls from the sky and lands on my feet while smoking a cigar) I'm back, baby!

Incense slowly burned in a pot while candles provided a limited amount of light inside this otherwise dark room. Not that it was much to illuminate in the first place, for the room was barren of all manner of furniture, and the only person present was seated in a lotus position in the center of the room. Hardly anything could be discerned in the weak candle light, but a slim and curvaceous body hinted at the person being female. For how long she sat there, breathing so miniscule that one would be forgiven in believing her to be a corpse, no one could tell.

Then, in a series of movements so fast that no mere man could have possibly been able to keep track of, the woman had drawn two swords and began slashing away at imaginary foes. She moved like a ghost, barely being glimpsed in the darkness. With speed and grace unmatched, her swords soundlessly glided through the air in an intricate dance that was only tantalizingly glimpsed in the fading light. Then, the light began to dim even further. For with each new slash, the woman's swords extinguished a candle.

One by one, they died out, allowing the oppressive shadows to grow ever deeper. Until at last, there was no more light. Save for one single candle. This candle was spared from the woman's blade for one single reason; what it illuminated.

"You've made quit a name for yourself these last few months, haven't you? Already, you've caught the interest of several higher-ups," the woman's, or rather girl's sultry voice, spoke from within the darkness, addressing the picture hanging above the sole remaining candle. Suddenly, a knife came soaring out of the darkness, impaling itself straight through the picture.

"Let's just see just what's got daddy dearest so interested in you, soldier boy," the girl commented to the hastily taken picture of Krieg beating down a handful of criminals. A door was suddenly opened at the other end of the room, temporarily illuminating the girl as she walked out. Long, snow white hair cascaded down her back while an eye patch could be glimpsed over her left eye. Then the door was closed behind her, and the room fell into darkness once more.

Ever since the first law was founded, there had always been those who would break it. And ever since the first lawbreaker made himself known, there had always been those who dealt out justice to them. It was a millennia long tradition, one that Krieg happily continued as he hurled a robber straight through a glass window before breaking his partner's jaw with a well-placed elbow strike. That only left four of them still standing, and none of them looked particularly thrilled about facing Krieg.

He gave them no choice in the matter as he charged them head-on. With an emotional detachment only a Kriegsman could ever accomplish, he shattered the knees of one man, electrocuted the second one into unconsciousness and head-butted the third one until he stopped moving. In less than a minute, Krieg had struck down three of them, leaving only the fourth still conscious. Needless to say, he lost all sense of bravado.

"Alright, alright! You win, I surrender!" he cried out in sheer terror as he raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. Krieg never even paused to consider his surrender, but marched right up and slammed him up against a wall.

"What are you doing?! I said I surrendered!" the robber screeched in terror.

"I heard you the first time. And since you will be in prison for the next few years, here's something to remember me by," Krieg answered, right before he rammed his knee as hard as he could straight into the robber's groin. Judging from the way he screamed, Krieg guessed that he may have broken something there. Not that he really cared. With the deed done, he threw the robber aside and began leaving the store, reaching into one of his pockets along the way.

"Sorry about the mess," he spoke monotonously as he passed the cash register, which the owner of the shop had used as cover and was now fearfully peeking over. He found a few bills had been placed in front of him, and that his savior had grabbed a bag of M&M's before exiting the store. A quick trip with his grapple gun later, and Krieg stood perched atop a skyscraper, overlooking the city of Los Angeles. So far, it had been a quiet day for him, with only two robberies and one attempted murder. It seemed like the scum were finally learning their place on the food chain.

"Best I find a mafia hideout or something and beat them up," he muttered quietly to himself, already making plans on how badly he would beat them up. A tactic he had copied from Batman and modified to better suit his skills. Being a simple human, Batman kept the criminals in line by striking fear into them. With stealth and theatrics, Batman made the scum of Gotham afraid of the night.

Sadly, Krieg lacked the same type of fear that Batman was able to inspire. Instead, he put the fear into the criminals of Los Angeles by using overly brutal and sadistic tactics on them. He turned robbers into cripples and mentally unstable into mentally shattered. Criminals feared getting caught by Batman, but they were absolutely terrified of Krieg getting his hands on them. He also knew that for this fear to remain with the criminals, they needed constant reminders on what would happen should they step out of line. He thus always hunted for criminals, tracking them down wherever they were hiding and dealing out the justice they deserved.

It was a never-ending fight, a cycle that Krieg would never escape. At least, as long as he served the Justice League and adhered to their pathetic sets of morals. Annoyance bloomed in his chest, just like every time he thought of them. 'Weak-willed parasites,' dark thoughts such as these were his constant companions wherever he went. But like every time they cropped up, he ruthlessly repressed them. It was no use complaining about it now. Whether he liked it or not, the Justice League was all that stood between humanity and utter destruction. So he kept his complaints to himself and just kept on fighting the fight with his full devotion, dreaming of a better future for mankind.

A future that most certainly did not include a certain Atlantean abhuman currently contacting him.

"Krieg, can you hear me? It's Aqualad," the infernal creature's voice spoke in his internal comm.

"I hear you loud and clear," he responded. 'More's the pity,' he added to himself mentally.

"Good. Could you meet me at the zeta tube closest to your base?" Aqualad asked politely. Krieg was sorely tempted to give a very scathing answer that would end with a "no". Alas, such an answer would undoubtedly make the Justice League come down even harder on him. He had already endured a four hour lecture yesterday from Black Canary regarding "showing respect to your comrades" along with something about "toning down" or whatever. Honestly, he had just tuned her out at that point.

"Very well. Be there in twenty," he answered before disconnecting. Casting one last glance at the so far peaceful city, he leaped off the roof and headed towards the zeta tubes. Twenty minutes later, and he found the abhuman calmly waiting for him near a phone booth inside a rundown alley.

"What's the situation, sir?" Krieg asked the moment he came within earshot of the abhuman, already going over possible scenarios that would explain his presence here. As it turned out, none of them were right.

"Nothing serious, I just wondered if I could join you in patrolling the city today," Aqualad revealed with a kind smile. It threw Krieg for a loop.

"You have never shown an interest in patrolling Los Angeles before," Krieg pointed out, an almost accusatory tone coloring his words. 'What is the abhuman trying to accomplish here?' he asked himself suspiciously.

"Yes, but I thought that it may provide us the opportunity to work on our team dynamics. After all, you're usually doing all the work in Los Angeles by yourself," Aqualad explained. As team leader, he felt that Krieg had an unfortunate habit of trying to do things on his own. While he could respect independence and self-reliance, it could prove to be severely damaging if he insisted on doing everything solo while on a team mission.

"What about your mentor, or the rest of the team?" Krieg inquired, hoping to find an excuse to send this disgusting abomination away. Being on the same team and doing missions together was bad enough, he was not relishing the thought of the abhuman helping him patrol his city.

"Aquaman is currently occupied with matters of state in Atlantis, Robin is with Batman in Gotham, Artemis is getting training from Green Arrow, Wally should be at school about now, and I'm sure that M'gann and Superboy would appreciate the chance to get some alone time," Krieg suspected that the mysterious smile at the end of Aqualad's sentence was meant to signify something. Whatever it was, it would remain a mystery for Krieg. And unfortunately, it left Krieg with no real way to get rid of the abhuman.

"Very well, follow me," Krieg reluctantly spoke before he began scaling a building with practiced ease. To his credit, Aqualad managed to keep up with him admirably. Though he still took far longer than Krieg to reach the roof.

"During these last few days, crime has been on a slow decline, so there have been few emergencies to respond to," Krieg informed his commander. "Because of this, I have had more time to track down drug dealer hideouts. I was planning on striking a few of them today, starting over at the east side," the explanation was met with a nod of agreement from Aqualad.

"Sounds like a good plan. Lead the way," he spoke. Krieg said nothing else, he just leaped off the roof towards the next, Aqualad following close behind. What neither of them had noticed, was the single blue eye that had observed them the whole time.

"Like what I'm seeing so far," the owner of said eye commented before following after the duo.

"You sure this is the right place?" Aqualad asked dubiously as he stood next to Krieg atop a five storey building, overlooking a small club called "The Glamor Moon".

"Without doubt. It's a night club where drugs are freely sold to its customers. From what I have gathered, the owners have managed to buy off the policemen that regularly patrol here, so our mission here had two objectives; destroy the club and gather any incriminating Intel we can supply to the police," Krieg explained, receiving a raised eyebrow from Aqualad.

"Destroy it? Don't you think it's going a little overboard here?" he asked in concern. Krieg never so much as looked at Aqualad as he answered.

"It will send a message to all the other scum that dare to pollute this city; that crime will not be tolerated on my watch," he retorted before bringing out his shotgun, already loaded with rubber bullets. "We'll go in the backdoor and take out any hostiles we come across inside," with that said, the duo snuck around the building and located the backdoor, located inside an alley. No guards were present, which Krieg saw as sloppy. But then again, who hired guards for a simple backdoor to a club in the middle of the day?

Krieg swiftly strode up to the door and without further ado, kicked it wide open, shotgun held at the ready. The first person he was greeted by was a startled cleaner, one that did not last very long as Krieg charged right at him and slammed his head into a wall. As the cleaner crumbled unconsciously to the ground, Aqualad came in, and he did not look pleased.

"Krieg, that was completely uncalled for. He was no threat to us," he harshly reprimanded Krieg, who said nothing in his defense. Instead he merely rolled the cleaner on his stomach and lifted up his shirt, displaying the gun hidden underneath and tucked into the back of his pants.

"Let me make this clear to you, Aqualad. There are no innocents in this club," he stated before standing back up and striding deeper into the club, Aqualad reluctantly following. Thankfully, the club seemed to be mostly deserted at this hour, with only a handful of criminals present. Most of them were just low-level grunts, no threat whatsoever for two seasoned crimefighters. One by one, they were neutralized, until the duo found themselves standing outside the office of the owner. They could hear talking going on inside.

"You first, I'll provide support," Krieg spoke as he readied his shotgun. Aqualad nodded in understanding as he drew his twin water bearers, forming them into swords. Then he stepped forward and kicked the door off its hinges before rushing in. six startled men turned around in shock at the intrusion, the first one getting swiftly knocked out by Aqualad. The second managed to draw a gun, but it was cut in two by the Atlantean before he was finished off with a pommel strike to the head.

Krieg had by then stepped inside and blasted away with his shotgun, felling three of the remaining criminals. That only left the sixth one, seated behind a desk, still conscious, and he looked like he was close to passing out as well if his constantly darting eyes and sweat drenched skin were any indicators.

"Do you- do you know who you're messing with here!" he shouted, trying to act tough and in control. It failed spectacularly.

"Rickard Sullivan, club owner and some drug dealer in the east quarter," Krieg answered as he strode inside, walking right past Aqualad. The answer seemed to aggravate Rickard, if his furious glare was anything to go by.

"I am the east quarter drug trade, you stupid piece of-" any further protests or insults were hastily aborted when Krieg raised his shotgun and pressed it straight between the man's eyes.

"I would be very careful about your next choice of words. They may end up being your last," Krieg warned coldly, ignoring the reproachful look he received from Aqualad. "Now, you're going to tell me everything I want to know; drug storages, meeting places, smuggling methods, names of policemen and politicians you've bribed, connections to any other criminal elements," as he listed off his demands, Rickard looked paler and paler. Finally, once Krieg was down, Rickard merely sneered at him.

"I'm not entitled to tell you anything. Now rest assured, my lawyers will be bringing this offence to court, and you will pay," he spat out. Whatever reaction Krieg had to those words were hidden by the gasmask.

"You do not seem to grasp the position that you are in at the moment, Mr. Sullivan," Krieg began as he grabbed a glass of whiskey that had been placed on the desk and moved it to the center of it, right atop a few papers Rickard had been busy reading over. "You will tell me what I desire, and you will do it now," Rickard should have taken his chance then and there. Sadly, he chose to do things the hard way.

"And why should I do that, boy?" he asked condescendingly. In response, Krieg grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face down on the glass of whiskey, shattering it and embedding shards of glass in Rickard's face.

"Krieg!" Aqualad burst out in horrified outrage as Rickard began screaming in pain. But Krieg was not done with the poor man. He violently threw the man back, causing him to tumble out his seat and crash painfully to the ground. Krieg swiftly jumped over the desk and slammed a boot down on Rickard's stomach hard enough to cause him to expunge its content on the floor. If he thought that would be the end, he was sorely mistaken as Krieg straddled him and kept him pinned to the floor.

"Care to reconsider your answer?" Krieg asked tonelessly. But even though he was crying like a little babe whilst lying in his own puke, Rickard still tried putting up a brave front.

"You'll never get away with this! Do you hear me? I'll make you pay for this!" he wailed. Krieg was unaffected.

"Wrong answer," he simply said before grabbing a small shard of glass embedded in his cheek. He then proceeded to slowly drag it down his face, while it was still embedded in his flesh. Needless to say, he wailed and screamed like never before, desperately trying to break free.

"I'm waiting," Krieg added as he continued the torture, completely unconcerned by the screams of agony he was dragging out of his victim. This little torture session only ended when Krieg felt a surprisingly strong hand grip his shoulder and literally throw him off Rickard. A short moment of weightlessness followed before he impacted against a wall. It sure hurt, but Krieg was hardly even concerned about that, his attention was solely placed on the perpetrator; Aqualad.

"That's enough, Krieg," he ordered harshly while glaring at his comrade.

"Why did you interfere? I was in the midst of extracting valuable information," Krieg accused as he straightened out. He never liked it when anyone interfered with his work.

"You know well enough why I did it. You were going too far," Aqualad stated. 'Heroes and their accursed morals, always interfering in my duty,' Krieg thought bitterly.

"Seeing as I still haven't managed to acquire the information I desire, I believe I did not go far enough," Krieg retorted as he tried to walk right past Aqualad and resume his work. He was stopped in his tracks when Aqualad stepped into his path with a stern look on his face.

"You've done enough, Krieg. Stand down, that's an order," he ordered coldly, arms folded over his chest. Anger and annoyance blossomed in Krieg's chest and a strong desire to just punch the abhuman in the face came over him. Nevertheless, he curbed his instincts and backed off.

"Yes sir," he spoke monotonously. But then he saw that Rickard had climbed back up on his feet, and he was aiming a revolver at Aqualad's back.

"Look out!" he cried out as he shoved the abhuman aside and rushed at Rickard, just as he pulled the trigger. Thankfully, he was a terrible shot, and so the bullet only ricocheted off his shoulder plate. Then he reached the man, and Rickard wished he had stayed down. Krieg grabbed the arm holding the gun and broke it at the wrist before driving a knee into his groin.

He did not even have time to scream in pain before Krieg shattered his jaw with a well-placed punch and then slammed the back of head straight into a wall, hard enough to leave a dent and a few traces of blood. Rickard promptly lost consciousness, and Krieg dropped him like a sack of potatoes.

"That is why you never show mercy to criminals, because they would rather stab you in the back," Krieg stated to Aqualad, who looked torn between being relieved or infuriated. The combination he ended up with was not pretty in the least.

It was half an hour later, after much painstaking clean-up and sweeping, that the duo stood perched atop a rooftop many city blocks away from the club. Krieg had all but put those events out of his mind, focusing on the next part of his patrol. Aqualad on the other hand was not ready to forget about it just yet.

"You went too far," he said out loud, drawing Krieg's attention.

"I beg your pardon?" he inquired, completely lost on what the abhuman was referring to.

"Back at the club, you went too far with that man. We are heroes, Krieg, we don't resort to such cruel methods," Aqualad lectured. While remaining impassive on the outside, Krieg let out a groan of dismay on the inside. 'Dear Emperor, not this pointless discussion again,' he was already receiving his fair share of lectures from the Justice League, he did not need this abhuman joining the club as well.

"I disagree. I believe I was exerting the appropriate response in order to gain the information I desired. Though considering his stubborn nature, I believe I should have used more force," he monotonously countered, his masked face betraying no emotion whatsoever as he faced Aqualad, who for his part did not like the answer he received one bit.

"That is not the right way," he stated, but Krieg was not backing down.

"Agree to disagree," he simply said.

"Look, treating them with such cruelty like you do makes you no better than the scum you're fighting. We want to stop crime, but not by sinking to their level," Aqualad argued, trying to make his friend see reason. If only he knew that reason to him was madness to Krieg.

"While I will admit that such sentiments are nice and all that, living by such weak ideals will not change anything. When you want to clean up a clogged sewer, you need to go into the filth and get your hands dirty," Krieg countered before sweeping his arm across the cityscape. "This world has become like a clogged sewer: refusing to flow naturally, building up filth of all kinds, and rotten. The Justice League wants us to turn a blind eye to it and hope that it will go away in time. But that will never happen, not at this rate. If one want change, one need to be willing to forcefully dig all the filth out,"

Through Krieg's short monologue, Aqualad had remained surprisingly silent and composed, even as the beliefs he had fought and bleed for were being torn down by his friend. Then, once Krieg was finished, Aqualad spoke up again.

"And if we did things your way, if we brutalized all the criminals we find, what would change? If we did forcefully expunge all the corruption from society, what's to stop someone worse from stepping up and filling the vacuum? Your violent actions would do nothing but brand yourself a criminal. We seek to serve as role models for people, to make people stand for truth and justice. You would simply make people fear and hate you,"

"What's wrong with being feared? After all, fear is a great tool to keep people in line," Krieg argued, but Aqualad just shook his head in disappointment.

"Fear is a double-edged blade. What people fear, they hate. And what people hate, they seek to destroy. A society based on fear will never hold out," he admonished. Still, Krieg was not about to back down just yet.

"So this is a better alternative? A stagnant world where the innocent suffer and their tormentors get away with it?" he questioned harshly.

"They don't get away with it. They are punished in accordance with the law," Aqualad explained, receiving a loud scoff from Krieg.

"Oh please, we both know what that entails. A few years in prison, a slap on the wrist, and then they are free men again. And don't tell me that they get 'rehabilitated'. How many times have Black Manta attacked Atlantis so far? How many innocent have the Joker claimed? How long have Bane walked free? How much destruction has Metallo wrought? When the law fails to do what it was meant to do, it falls to others to do what is necessary. After all, isn't that why crime fighters like us exist?" he questioned.

"True, but what you want isn't Justice, Krieg. It's vengeance," Aqualad countered.

"Justice, vengeance, call it whatever you want. I simply want to see results, to actually make a difference. Beating up a few villains every week before throwing them in jail won't make a difference, it will simply trap us in a never-ending cycle that can only end with our downfall," Krieg rebuked.

"Doing what you want will make us as bad as what we fight. All we would accomplish would be to replace the villains with something even worse; ourselves," Aqualad pointed out. Krieg was about to fire off another comment when they both heard an explosion. Swinging their heads towards were the noise came from, they found a plume of smoke rising in the distance. Krieg instantly knew the rough location of that explosion.

"That's near Grand Central Airport," he said out loud.

"We should head there and assist if we can," Aqualad stated, quickly taking command of the situation.

"Agreed," Krieg said, their earlier argument already driven out of his mind as he focused on the matter at hand. But before they could head out, Krieg caught something over the police frequency. Having the financial and technological backing of the Justice League, Krieg was able to outfit the comm. in his helmet with the ability to hack local police frequencies. It greatly helped with locating crimes in progress. And what they were reporting right now was not the sort of news Krieg needed right now.

"New development. A bomb has been found aboard a subway train. It's stopped at a station and all civilians are being evacuated," he reported. A frown spread across Aqualad's face. Two attacks at exactly the same time? He had been a hero a bit too long to believe that it was a simple coincidence. Krieg had very similar thoughts on the matter.

"We can't ignore either of these. We should split up; one of us goes to the airport, the other deals with the bomb," Aqualad decided. For once, Krieg was in agreement with the abhuman.

"I should take the bomb. I have had training in disarming bombs," he spoke out. Aqualad gave him a doubtful look.

"Are you actually any good with disarming bombs?" he asked in concern. He did not feel reassured by the shrug he received from Krieg. Still, there was not much he could do. Whether Krieg was any good or not did not matter here. He had received some form of training on this, which was more than Aqualad could boast about.

"Very well then. Good luck, my friend," Aqualad finally spoke before the two parted ways, heading in different directions. Once again, they had been completely oblivious to the fact that someone had been watching them the whole time.

"Well now, I believe it's time me and soldier boy got acquainted with one another,"

Finding the right subway station proved easier than he had first imagined. After all, he only needed to follow the sounds of sirens, whilst steering clear of the plume of smoke. Once he arrived on the scene, he found the police had formed a semi-circle of cars against the entrance. Crowds were already gathering around the area, curiosity overriding any sense of caution or self-preservation. 'Idiots,' was all Krieg could say about them as he searched for an alternative entrance to the subway system. He did not desire to be spotted by so many people. He found what he was looking for a few blocks away; a service hatch.

Slipping inside, he found himself trapped in utter darkness. The only source of illumination came from the open hatch, and that was swiftly extinguished once Krieg closed it. 'Police must have shut off all power to prevent the bomb from being moved,' he thought to himself as he activated the night vision in his mask. As he expected, the tunnel was empty, so he grabbed his shotgun and began advancing towards the station. Five minutes later, and the train was in his sight. Still no sign of activity in the area, so he climbed inside and moved from carriage to carriage, searching every nook and cranny for the bomb. With each carriage deemed empty, Krieg's suspicion mounted.

"Something's not right here," he muttered to himself, suspicious eyes glaring at everything around him. He was about halfway through the train, and yet there was still no bomb. There was definitively something fishy about this, he could feel it in his bones. Then, without any warning, the lights turned back on and the train lurched forward as it began moving. Krieg was nearly blinded by his night vision and hastily turned it off. 'They turned on the power again? But why?' he received an answer to that question when something came crashing through a window and slammed into Krieg.

He stumbled back from the surprise attack, trying to steady himself even though his eyesight had not fully recovered. Then he suddenly felt a kick slamming into his stomach with enough force to leave him flat on his back, gasping for breath. He tried standing back up, but a boot slammed into his chest and kept him pinned to the floor.

"Honestly, I expected a bit more from you, soldier boy," a female voice mocked above him. At last did his eyesight return, and he was greeted by a very unique sight. A girl, possibly in the same age group as he, was standing above him with an orange boot planted on his chest. Scale armor adorned those parts of her body visible underneath what looked like a form-fitting black spandex suit, doing wonders at displaying all the right curves.

Orange gloves were worn on her hands, each one gripping a sword. Silver white hair flowed out wildly from underneath a cloth mask that concealed the upper half of her face. But it was that mask that Krieg paid extra attention to, for it was of a familiar half black and half orange color with only one eyehole. Though he did note that the colors and eyehole were reversed in comparison to the last person he saw wearing it.

"Like what you see?" the girl asked seductively, having taking note where Krieg's eyes had been going. Krieg of course said nothing, instead grasping the leg pinning him down with his right hand and cranking up the voltages. She screamed in pain as Krieg sent masses of electricity right through her body before throwing her off. He hurriedly got back up on his feet, expecting his opponent to still be down.

He was to be disappointed in that regard, as the girl was already back up on her feet and renewing her assault. Acting quickly, Krieg grabbed his shotgun and opened fire on her. She effortlessly dodged the two first bullets coming her way, and then her sword cut Krieg's shotgun in two before a knee struck him in the chest and pushed him back. He managed to grab a pole to steady himself, and barely managed to avoid a thrust from the girl's sword. Sidestepping another attack, he drew his kukri and slashed at her stomach, forcing her to leap back. A momentary lull in the fighting followed, with both of them sizing the other one up.

"It seems I was mistaken earlier, you've got some skill after all," the girl said with a teasing grin on her face.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" Krieg simply questioned, already making ready to attack again.

"Name's Ravager, cutie. And what I want is to have some fun with you," she responded, her teasing grin turning into a bloodthirsty one as her lone eye shone with bloodlust.

"I suppose having fun just happens to include planting bombs aboard trains," Krieg stated coldly. All he received was a mocking laughter from Ravager.

"Oh please, do you really think I'd be so stupid so as to place a bomb on the same train I'll be on?" she questioned in amusement. Of course, she was the only one who was amused.

"I have seen worse," he simply said.

"Well then, allow me to put your fears to rest. The bomb on this train is nothing more than a fake, unlike the one that I placed at the airport. I'm sure your friend will find quite the mess when he arrives," Ravager revealed proudly. Krieg instantly smelled a set-up.

"You set this all up in advance. You wanted to split me and Aqualad up, and I guess you were after me personally," he deduced, and received all the confirmation he would ever need from Ravager downright psychotic grin.

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner here!" she announced tauntingly, causing Krieg to narrow his eyes suspiciously at her.

"But that still does not answer why you would want hat," he stated. Instincts told him that an attack was imminent, and he had always trusted his instincts so he made ready.

"Like I said earlier, I want to have some fun. Lately, the criminal underworld has been abuzz about this newcomer in Los Angeles who puts Batman to shame. Naturally, being the curious little me that I always am, I just had to pop over and see what the fuss was about," here, Ravager paused in her explanation to let her eye wander up and down his body. "And I must say, I like what I'm seeing so far," why did Krieg get such a strange feeling in his stomach from the way she licked her lips at the end of that sentence?

"Good for you, because that was probably the last pleasure you will enjoy for the next decade or so. Now, shall we do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Krieg questioned as he crouched into a fighting stance. Ravager instantly gained a predatory gleam on her lone eye, and her grin turned quite feral.

"How about the fun way?" she countered before she leaped at him. He deflected one blade with his knife and sidestepped the second, struck back with a knee that Ravager dodged before Krieg rolled clear of a decapitating strike. Jumping back on his feet, he tried to grab her with his right hand, but she avoided the grip, grabbed hold of his arm and threw him over her shoulder to slam to the floor. With a maniacal look in her eye, she brought both her swords down towards Krieg, intending to skewer him. He rolled clear, causing them to get embedded in the floor, before striking with his kukri at her legs.

Ravager narrowly leaped back, and Krieg took his chance to stand back up and attack again. He slashed with his kukri at her throat before throwing an uppercut at her. She avoided both of them and leaped right over him, landing right next to her swords. Swiftly retrieving them, she struck back at Krieg with a scissor strike at his head. He leaned back to avoid it and drove a boot at her, hitting her straight in the stomach. Ravager was driven back, but seemed otherwise fine. In fact, she was even starting to laugh.

"I haven't had this much fun in over a year now!" she screamed in delight before diving back into the fray. This time, Krieg was ready as he deflected both swords with his kukri and armored glove, using the chance to step closer and head-butt her. Temporarily disoriented, she as unable to stop a kick to the side or a slash to the chest. Unfortunately for Krieg, the scale armor held, and left him open to a counterattack in the form of a knee to the groin. It hurt like hell, but he bit it back with great effort and backed off as Ravager began to wildly swing her swords at him.

One of the swords managed to land a quick strike to his chest, leaving a wide slash mark across the red Aquila emblazoned on his Kevlar. Big mistake on her part. 'No one, NO ONE defiles the Emperor's most holy symbol and gets away with it,' with newfound strength, he lunged straight at her, knocking aside her swords blocking his path. But in an impressive display of grace and acrobatics, she managed to twist her body out of his reach and leaped over him, landing behind him. He spun around with his kukri ready, only to be greeted by twin swords coming right at him.

Once again blocking one of the swords with his kukri, he was not fast enough to avoid the second sword snaking its way underneath is shoulder plate and drawing blood before retreating. Krieg stepped back in alarm, a hand going to his shoulder to inspect the damage. A flesh wound, nothing serious. But it gave Ravager enough time to strike again, forcing Krieg back with a flurry of sword strikes. Then, she accidentally overextended a thrust, and Krieg struck. He grabbed hold of the arm and dragged her forward, straight into his waiting kukri.

"I don't think so!" she shouted as her free sword came up and nearly took Krieg's arm off. Krieg managed to draw his arm back, but received a shallow cut and accidentally dropped his kukri. Ravager took the chance to rip out of his hold, but Krieg still managed to land a kick on her, sending her stumbling back. Krieg took the chance to draw a flashbang and throw it at her. It went off just as she righted herself, blinding her as she roared in painful surprise.

Not about to give her a chance to recover, Krieg tackled her to the floor, causing her to lose grip on both her swords. Krieg swiftly straddled her waist and began to ruthlessly pound her head. Though half blind, Ravager still managed to strike back as her legs suddenly came up and wrapped around Krieg's head. Before he even knew what was happening, Ravager's strong leg muscles dragged him down and slammed his back into the floor.

That one hurt like hell, but there was no time to nurture bruises, and so both Krieg and Ravager sprung up on their feet, ready for more. Both lacking their weapons, it came down to hand to hand. Krieg struck first with an uppercut that Ravager caught and slammed back in his face. She tried sweeping his legs from under him, but he jumped over the attack and drove an elbow down towards her. Ravager was forced to leap back to avoid it before attacking again. She slipped under a fist coming at her face and rammed both her fists into his stomach.

One thought went through his head as he was pushed back and all air fled his lungs. 'Damn, she's FAR stronger than I anticipated,' not that it deterred Krieg in the least as he attacked again. Ravager ducked under a wide swing, but received a knee to the head before an elbow crashed into her back. Going down on all four, Ravager surprised Krieg as she grabbed hold of his legs and, with a great heave, lifted him off his feet and slammed him into the roof. She promptly let him go, and he crashed back to the floor.

"Had enough yet?" she asked mockingly, grinning like a lunatic. The answer she received from Krieg was in the form him flipping back on his feet and lashing out with a kick that she dodged.

"I was hoping that'd be your answer," she revealed as she attacked again. Krieg made ready to receive her charge, but Ravager surprised him by grabbing hold of the train's roof with both hands and then swung herself boots first into Krieg. He was painfully slammed into a pole and could not get out of the way as she came at him with another fist to his stomach. He doubled over the appendage still pressed into his stomach, feeling as though he was close to losing his stomach's content. But he endured the pain and grabbed hold of Ravager's arm.

Too late did she see the danger as Krieg turned on his shock glove again. Once again, Ravager got to experience the sensation of electricity coursing through every part of her being. And once again, she screamed in pain. It did not last as long as the first time, but once it ended, Krieg grabbed the back of her head and slammed it into the pole with all his might. Then he did it again, and again, and again. Then, he let her go, and she dropped like a sack of potatoes.

With the threat neutralized, Krieg ended up collapsing into a seat, absentmindedly noting that the train was still moving. As the adrenaline wore off from the hectic fight, Krieg began to feel all the swells and bruises that most likely adorned him from head to toe. 'Damn, I have not been this beaten up since I fought Deathstroke,' he thought to himself, which brought back up his suspicion regarding this girl's allegiances. It seemed like he had a knack for attracting one-eyed psychopaths.

"Krieg, can you hear me?" the voice of Aqualad suddenly spoke up from his comm.

"I hear you. What's the situation?" Krieg questioned, biting back the pain he felt from moving his arm.

"There's something wrong here at the airport. The bomb that went off only did minimal damage, but there are League of Shadows operatives in the area," Aqualad revealed. That really caught Krieg's attention. Shadow operatives? Here? Sure, this would hardly be their first visit to Los Angeles, but Ravager had claimed that the bomb was her work. So why would the Shadows get involved? Unless Ravager herself was an operative as well.

"How many are there?" Krieg asked, already formulating plans on how to deal with them.

"I'm not sure, I've only seen a few, but I think at least…" the rest of Aqualad's sentence was drowned out by the sudden noise of fighting from his end.

"Aqualad? Report, what the hell is going on over there?" Krieg demanded to know, unknowingly flying up on his feet. He received on answer from the other end beyond explosion and screams of pain. Then it all turned to static. At first, Krieg merely stood there in silence, giving no reaction to what had just happened.

"Damn it all," he finally said in irritation. Could not that worthless abhuman do anything right on its own? Now Krieg would have waste time and energy on saving his useless hide. There was that small part of him that dearly hoped that he was already too late for that. An amused chuckle suddenly drew Krieg's attention to what he had thought had been an unconscious Ravager.

"Sounds like you're having a little trouble there, soldier boy," she commented teasingly, a grin in place on her face. Krieg just frowned at her as he made ready to attack her again. This time, he would make sure to hit her head until she was bleeding. To his surprise, she raised her hands in a placating gesture.

"No need for that. From the sound of it, you'll need all your strength to stop those Shadows," she said nonchalantly. It threw Krieg for a loop.

"Are you giving up? Just like that?" he questioned dubiously, trying to work out what her ulterior motive might be. Ravager just shrugged her shoulders as she climbed back up on her feet.

"I've had my fun playing with you here. And it sounds like it's going to be an even better fight coming up," she said while stretching her muscles, giving Krieg a tantalizing view of her form as her costume pressed tighter against her skin while smiling seductively at him. Unsurprisingly, Krieg remained oblivious to the physical tease. But he did not miss the way Ravager said the last part of her sentence. 'This psychotic girl can't possibly be thinking…?' as if reading his thoughts, Ravager openly laughed at him.

"Yes, I'm coming with you," she stated with conviction, hands placed on her hips. Krieg was now certain beyond any doubt that this girl was utterly insane.

"And what makes you think that I would bring along a criminal? In fact, what makes you so sure that I would even let you walk out of here like that?" he questioned as he slipped into a fighting stance. Ravager's earlier seductive smile turned into a truly vicious grin.

"I do love it when my toys fight back," she purred sadistically before she pounced. Caught completely off guard by her speed, Krieg had no chance to react before Ravager had swept him off his feet. Barely had he blinked before Ravager had straddled him and with but one hand, held both of Krieg's arms pinned above his head. And no matter how much he bucked, he could not dislodge this girl. 'I most certainly underestimated her strength,' was the dominant thought that went through his skull as Ravager's grinning face hovered right above him.

"Now then, time to renegotiate your decision," she said tauntingly as she pressed her body against his. To her disappointment, she received no physical reaction to her teasing. "You and I are going to go and beat these Shadows together,"

"Why do you even want to fight them? You are a criminal, you do not care about protecting innocent or helping heroes," Krieg accused. Ravager just shrugged her shoulders.

"True. But this was my gig, and I don't want any second-rate villains coming and ruining it," she admitted. If he thought about it, Krieg guessed that it made sense from a twisted point of view.

"Be that as it may, it does not change the fact that I will not just let you walk away from this," Krieg stated fiercely. A husky chuckle came out of Ravager as she leaned in closer until there were only inches between their masks.

"I don't think you're in any position to refuse me, soldier boy," she whispered as she ran a finger down his mask. And as much as he wished otherwise, he would have to admit she had a point.

"So, what's it going to be?"

The first thing that Aqualad became aware of when consciousness returned to him was the throbbing pain at the back of his skull, alongside quite a few stinging blade wounds across his body. While still keeping his eyes closed, he gave his arms and legs a few experimental pulls. He felt steel cables binding him in place. Straining his ears, he could hear sounds around him, people talking in hushed voices. Rather than reveal he was conscious, he pretended to still be out.

He tried to make out what they were saying, but alas, they spoke some manner of Arabic language, and so their words made no sense to him. Casting his mind back to earlier events, he tried to remember how many there had been. He had seen seven of them, but someone had attacked from behind as well.

"You can quit pretending to be asleep, Atlantean, I know you're awake," a gruff and highly familiar voice spoke right before Aqualad felt a boot connect roughly with his side. He winced from the blow and opened his eyes to glare at his aggressor. The towering form of Sportsmaster greeted him as he glared at Aqualad from behind his mask.

"Been a while, hasn't it kid?" he spoke with a hint of humor coloring his voice. Aqualad just glared back at him.

"What are you up to, Sportsmaster? Placing bombs at a random airport and capturing a single hero doesn't sound like your style," Aqualad questioned dubiously.

"Honestly, I didn't place the bomb. I was just in town looking for that fucking gasmask freak who did this to me," his explanation, spoken with a furious snarl, was punctuated by him raising his right hand, displaying the cybernetic prosthetic in place of a real flesh and blood hand. Aqualad knew that he should feel angry at Krieg for mutilating an enemy like that. But at the moment, he could not help but wish that he had lopped off a few more limbs.

"When the bomb went off, I suspected that he would come running here like a good little hero. Unfortunately, it was the wrong hero who showed up," he finished his sentence with an accusing glare at Aqualad, as if it was all his fault to begin with. "Now you better hope that you little friend comes and save you. Otherwise, you're dead meat,"

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" the familiar voice of Krieg suddenly announced, causing all present to whirl around and face him as he brazenly walked into the evacuated airport. "I scared you away after you kidnapped Robin, and then I forced you to run away after you kidnapped Kid Flash, do we really have to go through the same procedure with Aqualad as well?" that commented earned him a threatening growl from Sportsmaster as he glared daggers at the unconcerned vigilante.

"Not gonna happen this time, punk. I still remember clearly what you did to me last time," Sportsmaster snarled as he once again displayed his cybernetic prosthetic. Krieg's only reaction was by drawing his kukri.

"And you now want a matching left hand? That can easily be arranged," he stated coldly, but made no move to attack. Sportsmaster openly scoffed at his words as he himself drew a knife and held it at Aqualad's throat.

"No so fast there, boy. If you take one more step, I'll slit his throat wide open," he threatened. While most certainly afraid for his life, Aqualad maintained his image of strength as he glared at his captor.

"Now, this is how we're going to do it, you're going to drop all of your weapons and surrender. If you don't, I'll kill your friend," Sportsmaster threatened. Krieg remained unmoved.

"You tried the same tactic once before, what makes you think it will work this time?" he questioned. Even though Sportsmaster was wearing a mask, Krieg was sure beyond any doubt that he was grinning at him.

"I hardly think you had the time to prepare the same trick as last time," he declared confidently. That confidence was about to come and bite him in the ass.

"You are right, because unlike you, I do not need to rely on the same trick twice," Krieg revealed, just as they all heard glass shattering above them. Seconds later, a maniacally laughing Ravager was in their midst, hacking and slashing away with reckless abandon. Heads and limbs flew all over the place as shocked and confused Shadow operatives reeled back from the attack. Taking advantage of the sudden chaos, Krieg threw a smoke bomb to the floor, engulfing the battlefield in thick white smoke. Activating his infrared optics, he charged through the chaotic slaughter and straight towards Aqualad and Sportsmaster.

Someone tried blocking his path, but Krieg struck him down with contemptuous ease. Another tried to attack him from behind with a katana, but Krieg was ready. He sidestepped the overheard strike before driving a knee into the man's stomach, causing him to double over before he was finished off with an elbow to the neck. Finally, the path was clear to his goal, and he swiftly made his way towards his two targets. Only, there was one target missing when he burst trough the smoke.

"Where's Sportsmaster?" he asked once he reached the still bound Aqualad.

"He went that way," he answered while sending a look at a door labeled "staircase". A door that stood wide open. Acting quickly, Krieg cut the bindings on Aqualad's arms before rushing after the villain. He could not see him, but he could most certainly hear him running up the stairs. Without hesitation, Krieg began climbing the stairs with all haste. Floor after floor did he pass as he tried to catch up with Sportsmaster. He finally heard a door getting kicked open above him, and so he put on a burst of speed. He came crashing out on the airport roof, finding his quarry making a run for it.

"And here you are again, running away with your tail between your legs!" Krieg shouted, stopping Sportsmaster in his tracks. "And what happened to your earlier sense of bravado?" Sportsmaster answered by glaring hatefully at the impudent brat that had now humiliated him three times in a row.

"You're without doubt the craziest hero I have ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with. First you threaten to blow us all up, then you cut my hand off, and now you've teamed up with a murdering psychopath. Honestly, I have no idea whose side you're supposed to be on here," he accused Krieg, who for his part remained unconcerned.

"I am on humanity's side. And unfortunately for you, filth, you have chosen to oppose it," he declared as he ramped up the voltages on his shock glove to max, causing electricity to visibly crackle around his hand. Sportsmaster's eyes traveled between the glove and Krieg's masked face before he drew an extendable javelin.

"Don't think it will be that easy, punk. I'm gonna make you…" the rest of his sentence vanished in a roar of pain as Sportsmaster staggered to the right, a knife being embedded in his left side.

"Sorry, I was growing bored with all the talking," Ravager apologized insincerely from where she had thrown the knife before sauntering over to Krieg, who glared suspiciously at her the whole way.

"I didn't need your help, criminal," he spat out at her before advancing on Sportsmaster. He was putting that accursed mercenary out of business for good. A restraining hand on his shoulder hampered his progress though.

"Not so fast, soldier boy," she spoke jovially. Krieg, for his part, had already grown tired of enduring this criminal's presence, and so he spun around and tried to fry her with his shock glove. Sadly, she was ready for it, and managed to catch his arm before throwing him straight into an air went. Barely had he recovered before he found a sword held at his throat. As if the humiliation was not bad enough, Ravager was grinning mockingly at him.

"Sorry about that, but I didn't want you to think I'd grown a soft spot for heroes," she explained cheekily, earning herself a glare from Krieg.

"Then why did you even help me in the first place?" he asked sourly. 'I should have never trusted her in the first place,' he thought glumly to himself.

"Because I thought it would be fun to kill some Shadow goons," she simply said without a shred of guilt before turning her attention to Sportsmaster, who had observed the events with a bit of confusion. "And you better pack your stuff up and leave. Wouldn't want your employers to hear how you've been a naughty boy,"

Sportsmaster visibly bristled from the condescending tone used by the girl, and he looked more than ready to attack. But in the end, he thought better of it. Whoever his employers were, Krieg guessed that they were powerful enough to collar someone like him. That in itself made Krieg suspicious about who they might be.

"This isn't over, kid," Sportsmaster warned before, with a final death glare directed at Krieg, he left. That only left Krieg and Ravager on the roof, and by the Emperor did he wish he could beat her up at that point. Sadly, she had the advantage here, and she knew it.

"That was fun, but I think it's time I take my leave as well," she announced. Sensing the furious glare she was receiving from Krieg, she ran a finger across his mask. "Aw, don't be upset about me leaving. I promise, I'll be back to play with you some other time," here, she leaned in very close to whisper huskily in her ear. "And I'm sure we'll have loads of fun," okay, why the hell did her words send such strange chills up his spine? But before he could say or do anything, she had driven a knee up between his legs. Then, with a final mocking laughter, she was gone, leaving Krieg to collapse to his knees while clutching his private area.

"I hate that girl," he groaned out.

Arriving back at her home, Ravager had to admit that she felt very satisfied. It had been quite a while since he had had the chance to toy with a boy like that. Though she could not help but wonder how he looked under that mask. Well, she would just have to work harder to find that on out next time. After all, she had such naughty and wicked ideas that she would like to try out. But then, without warning, she spun around and drew both her swords, facing against a patch of shadow.

"Step into the light, now," she snarled out, body tensing up in preparation for a fight. Slowly, a figure moved out into the light, and his presence made Ravager freeze up in shock.

"Hello, Rose," he greeted with his arms clasped behind his back, an aura of calmness resonating around his relaxed form. A clever deception she had seen cost many a target's life.

"Hey, dad," she greeted back as she eased out of her fighting stance, though she did not put away her swords. Father or no father, when in the presence of Deathstroke the Terminator, it was always best to be on the safe side. A short awkward silence followed, with neither daughter nor father sure how to proceed.

"I heard you visited Krieg in Los Angeles," Deathstroke eventually broke the ice, causing Ravager to narrow her lone eye suspiciously at him.

"What's it to you? As I recall, you lost the right to meddle with my life a long time ago," she stated fiercely. A resigned sigh came from Deathstroke as he reached up with his hand and removed his mask, becoming Slade Wilson again.

"Look, I know that you don't want me to pry into your life, I have respected that wish for two years, but you're the one who's involving yourself with my work here," he argued tiredly. 'Wars were easier than daughters,' he thought to himself with dry humor. At first, Ravager was silent. Then, she too removed her mask, becoming Rose Wilson. Now they truly faced each other as father and daughter, and not as assassin to assassin.

"Fair enough. I was just curious about the boy who managed to catch the attention of the fabled Deathstroke. After all, it's not everyone who gets such privileges in this world," there was a certain undercurrent of bitterness in her words, and it made Slade's eye soften a bit.

"You know, the offer still stands if…" he began, but stopped when Rose raised a hand.

"Save it, dad. You're a great assassin, and a good mentor, but you always were a lousy father," she said. It stung to hear his own daughter say that, but he did not try to defend himself. He had tried to be a good father for his three children, he had tried to be a family for their sake. And look how that ended. His daughter had almost as much blood on her hands as he, his youngest son had gone missing, and his oldest…

"I was never meant to be a father, but I still love you," he found himself saying. Rose refused to meet his eyes after hearing those words.

"I know, but that isn't enough to wash away the past," she spoke bitterly. An uncomfortable silence fell upon them for a moment, neither sure how to proceed. Family matters were always the hardest to deal with.

"So…" Slade began awkwardly. "What was your impression on Krieg?" Rose seemed to visibly perk up at the change of topic as she began speaking.

"Oh, I can definitively see what caught your interest. Maybe not the best fighter around, but he's stubborn as hell and don't even know the meaning of quitting. And he's definitively more ruthless than those other goody two-shoes heroes. I definitively like him," here, a downright smutty grin appeared on her face. "And I hope to get to know him a bit more… intimately in the future,"

The moment he heard those words, Slade's lone eye narrowed in fury. For a moment, he considered throwing all his plans out the window and just hunt the brat down and castrate him for safety measures.

Hey, he was protective of his only daughter, sue him.

"In any case, I hope that your interest in the boy will not interfere with my plans," Slade spoke as he donned his mask again. Their short father and daughter moment was over, now it was strictly business between them. And if they were to be honest, they were both more comfortable interacting with one another in this manner.

"Of course not. I'm actually hoping you'll succeed here. Would be interesting to see if nothing else," Rose answered, receiving a short nod from Deathstroke.

"That was all I needed to know," he said before leaving, barely making so much as a sound as he vanished into the darkness.

He ran, because that was all he could do. He ran for his life, because the one chasing him would not let him keep it. His legs hurt, his lungs were on fire, but never once did he stop running. To stop would mean to die for him here. Crooked branches stretched out from the trees all around him, scratching his face like claws and trying to trap his clothes in their vile grip. But he ripped through it all in his desperation to get away.

"It's no use! You can't run forever!" his hunter shouted from behind him. It sounded dangerously close, but he dared not turn around and look. He knew that there was nothing but death waiting for him should he look back, he knew that was all he would get should he slow down. he burst out of the forest like the devil himself was upon him, but came to a stop dead in his tracks.

"No," he whispered in horrified realization as he stared over the edge of the cliff he had found himself at. Far beneath, the violent waves of the sea smashed into the cliff face with unrelenting fervor. Each time a wave receded, it unveiled the rocks jutting up like the teeth of some ancient beast, before the next wave hid them from view.

"Nowhere to run now," the cruel voice of his hunter suddenly spoke from behind him. Slowly, with eyes wide with terror, he turned around to face him. His longtime friend stood there, clothes all worn down just like he, but he knew that was not his friend.

"You know how this will end. Your friend did not know what I desired, but I'm sure you do," the monster that dared to wear his friend's face spoke.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he tried to explain, but the monster was not fooled.

"Don't play dumb with me. I know you've had dealings with him in the past, and you will help me find him," he stated coldly as he began to advance on him. Panic ceased him as he looked between the monster approaching him and the edge behind him. He realized then and there that he was done for, and resigned himself to his fate. But something changed, something vile and foreign forced him to make one last act of defiance against this creature.

"Never! I'll never let you have what you want! Do you hear me? NEVER!" he shouted like a lunatic. Then, despite his mind screaming at his body not to do it, he threw himself over the edge towards a certain death below. Meanwhile, the creature remained standing where it was, completely baffled by the man's insane decision. Then, that bafflement turned to rage.

"Damn it! All that work done for naught! Now I have to start all over again!" he snarled out in rage. It was a setback, but he would not give up, he would persevere no matter what.

"Then perhaps I may be of some assistance," a smooth and silky voice spoke from behind him. Shocked that someone managed to sneak up on him, he spun around to be confronted by a giant dressed in imposing armor and carrying an ornate staff.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously, making ready for a fight. The giant raised a placating gesture.

"Relax, I am not here to fight you. My name is Azkillon, and I'm here to offer you a deal," Azkillon spoke reassuringly. Something about this stranger compelled the creature to listen to him instead of attacking, so he straightened up and faced him fully.

"Well? What is it?" he asked impatiently.

"For nearly a year now, you've been searching for your father, desiring vengeance for what he did to you and your family. But you have made no headway whatsoever, constantly running in circles. I can help you claim your revenge," Azkillon tempted. He had to admit, he was intrigued, but he was not sold just yet.

"How?" he asked. In response, eldritch energy sprang to life around Azkillon, weaving around him in intricate patterns. He watched in awe as images sprang to life; memories from his life, images of things happening across the globe, glimpses into times long forgotten and times that had yet to come. Then, with a snap of his fingers, Azkillon removed the images.

"I hold power beyond anything you've ever seen, child. Power that could reshape the world itself. Power that could be yours one day," he purred sweetly. He was too shocked by what he had seen to properly respond, so Azkillon pushed on.

"Join us. Pledge your service to me, and all you've ever dreamt about will be yours. I promise, you will have your vengeance," in the end, it was too tempting to refuse or him. If this stranger claimed he had the power to destroy his father, then that was all he needed.

"Very well, I'm in," he spoke confidently.

"If you will serve me, then show your true form," Azkillon ordered. He hesitated for a short moment before complying, stepping out of the body he had previously inhabited. Azkillon thus found a young boy standing before him, dressed in outrageous clothes that seemed to belong in the renaissance with the colors white, blue, gold and purple clashing all over it with curly blonde hair adorning his head. But it was his eyes that stood out the most. A twin set of cold, dead orbs that held nothing but malice and contempt in them. Azkillon was very pleased with his newest recruit.

"I have no doubt that you will serve Chaos well, Jericho,"