Chapter #9

One Week Later…

Rain poured through the streets of Limerick as evening arrived. The weather hadn’t been clear since the tragedy that had occurred only a couple of days before. Martin stepped into a large puddle, cursing under his breath as he quickly walked through the alley. He adjusted his collar on his way across the intersection, narrowly missing a car, as the rain came down harder.

He finally made it to the Limerick Police Station and entered the revolving doors. He nodded to the two women at the desk and headed for the elevator. He pushed the UP button and the doors to the elevator swung open. Martin climbed in and punched in the numerical code to the top floor and the doors closed behind him. The elevator shook as it began it’s ascent. He looked down at the newspaper stuffed in the basket attached the handle bar. He pulled it out and read the front heading:

Explosion on Outskirts of Limerick Rattles Brains of the Citizens-Police refuse to explain the matter other than, “It was an accident.” No one seemed to have been injured in the blast, and the destruction has not seemed to effect...

Martin swiftly crumpled up the newspaper and shoved it back in the basket angrily. Damn papers can’t get anything right.

Finally the elevator shuddered to a halt on the top floor and, with a light chime, the doors swung open to reveal a long hallway. At the end was the large door that lead to the police HQ. Martin took a deep breath before turning the knob and opening the door.

The room was bustling with workers, getting paperwork and scanning articles on the computer screens. Martin looked over to see Henry sitting in a chair at one of the desks, his face expressionless except for his eyes, which were swollen and still full of tears. There had been no news of Clare. She hadn’t returned since she teleported away. It was to be believed she was dead, but there had been no actual findings of a body.

Poor kid, Martin thought, still thinks she’ll be comin’ back. He began walking toward the back office where Donovan and Wilson were taking in reports from other officers.

“Evening boys,” Martin began shaking the rain off his coat.

“Zimmer!” Cedar shoved the trainee who had been talking to him aside and strode up to Martin, “Did you find anything?”

“Naw, the Preston Hotel is empty, top to bottom,” Martin frowned.

“Damn!” Donovan shouted, “No where! We can’t find a giant building in this small city people?!”

Draco rubbed his eyes sleepily, “ We’ve checked every BIG building there is in this bloody town!”

“Not quite,” the trainee officer spoke up.

All eyes turned toward him.

“Uh, ehem,” He cleared his voice nervously, “There’s still the Warren Building. We tried contacting the manager but they refuse to cooperate.”

“Do we seriously need a warrant for these pompous jack-asses?!” Maxwell pounded his fist on one of the desks, suddenly freezing it over in ice.

“This can, I think, overlook a warrant,” Wilson nodded to Donovan, “Take your group there. I believe this may be the pace.”

“You got it, Captain,” Donovan was already getting his hat and coat on.

“Hey Don!” Wilson called as Cedar started for the door. Donovan turned around to see Wilson taking his pipe out of his mouth, “Be careful.”

Donovan just smirked, “I always am!” He turned and headed for the door calling, “Alright people, let’s move!”

~

The night was silent except for the pounding of rain upon the awning above the entrance to the Warren Incorporation. The doorman laid on the ground unconscious, as the revolving doors continued to spin. Inside, the melted chains lay on the ground in front of the elevator doors, which had just closed, on its way to the top floor. The man at the desk laid unconscious across his computer as the seat next to him lay empty...

Zarian stood looking out the window at the dark, gloomy city of Limerick. His eyes were closed as the voice in his head repeated annoyingly, “I, am turning you in!” 

His eyes opened and he shrugged off the thought. He smirked and thought to himself, tonight will be a good night. The elevator chimed and Seth turned around grinning, “Welcome ladies and gen-“

The door opened to reveal the other desk worker’s unconscious body laying inside the elevator. Zarian’s eyes widened and his grin faded.

Suddenly the windows behind him shattered into the room with a huge gust of wind. Rain splattered into the room as a figure appeared, climbing into the room from the rooftop.

“Evening Zarian,” Donovan brushed of some of the water from his jacket, “Sorry about the intrusion, it’s just there wasn’t any room in the elevator.”

Zarian smirked, “You seem to be short a couple of friends, Detective Cedar. And I seem…” Timebomb and Pharaoh stepped out of the shadows of a corner of the room, “…to out-number you.”

“Mmm, I don’t think so,” Donovan smirked back.

From behind Cedar, two more figures climbed down from the roof and stepped into the room. Draco, already gun-raised, stepped over next to Donovan. John stayed back a little, making sure no one else would unexpectedly show up.

“Wait, where’s Henry?” John looked around nervously.

There was a sudden crash from above and Henry drove through the roof and rammed into Timebomb, hurling both of them straight throw the floor. With a sudden distraction, Draco fired three shots at Zarian.

But before they hit, Zarian glowed a brilliant teal color and threw his hand up in front of the bullets. The bullets stopped two inches from his hand and floated in the air in front of him, “Close! I’m impressed. But…” he smirked, “Not close enough!” With his other hand, he thrusted it out, sending a powerful wave of energy at Draco, who toppled back over the side of the windowless ledge, barely hanging on to the siding.

As Donovan rushed to help Draco, John covered them by throwing two fireballs at Seth. But Zarian pushed them aside easily and Craig Elders finally jumped in, shooting long strings of gauze at John…

~

The building shook as Henry and Timebomb crashed through each floor. In a blast of smoke, they crashed into the floor of the eerie cavern below the building.

Timebomb’s mask had been ripped in two, showing his dazed eyes as blood ran from his cut forehead. Henry sat up and gritted his teeth.

“You sick b*****d!” tears began to form in his eyes, “How could you??”

“Ugh,” O’Connors wiped the blood out of his eyes, “What the hell are you talking about?!”

“I’m talking about you! Murdering an innocent girl!” Henry shouted.

“Not quite,” a voice out of the darkness whispered.

Henry looked up and his eyes widened. There, standing before him, stood Clare Jenson, her eyes glowing a bright teal color.

“C-Clare?” he stuttered.

She smirked grimly, “You wish, huh?”

In a flash, she disappeared altogether. Henry spun around to look for her, only to be kicked square in the face, blood squirting from his nose. He fell back onto the ground with a loud thud.

After a bit, he sat back up, “Clare what are you doing?”

“Haha. Clare is no more. I saved her from the explosion but she had to pay the price. Her soul now belongs to Zarian!” she cackled.

Clare suddenly launched at Henry, grabbing at his collar and Henry’s vision began to go black. He could feel wind rush past him and felt his feet leave the ground. But the feeling left a second later, his feet finding ground and vision coming to.

But something was different. He wasn’t in a cavern anymore. His eyes tried to adjust to the bright scenery of a lighted room. But before he could, a large pillar came crashing down at him. He barely dodged it as it smashed into the floor. He finally looked around to see Martin slash at a knife, knocking it out of the way from hitting Harold.

This is upstairs!! Henry realized. All of his friends had gone to find Zarian’s minions earlier. Apparently, they found them. Ranzford had created a large sledge hammer from his right arm and continued swinging it at Marié, who had made herself entirely of rubber, which the hammer luckily had no effect on.

“Your pathetic friends are making a futile attempt of resistance,” Clare smirked, looking down at Henry, “My army has fled to the hills, where they will soon march back to Limerick and destroy this city! There is nothing you can do to stop us!”

“You’re wrong Zarian!” Henry slowly stood up and faced Clare.

“Haha! We shall see. Well, now that I have no need for this pathetic girl, I guess you can have her back,” she smirked, “but I’m not quite sure if she will still be alive.”

Suddenly Clare’s eyes lost their teal color and her body fell to the ground. Henry rushed over and caught her before she hit the floor…

~

Donovan made one last pull and heaved Draco back into the room. John had set fire to the gauze wrapped around Elders and he began rolling furiously on the ground to put out the intense heat.

Zarian smirked, “It has begun. We begin our retreat,” his voice seemed to echo through the building. He turned to the rolling Craig and gave an annoyed look, “you pathetic worm. Get up! We leave now.”

He turned back to John and the other two and smiled, “Pardon me if you will. I have plans to attend to,” he bowed and then readjusted his coat, “enjoy your last few hours of life.”

Zarian turned and walked into the elevator, kicking the unconscious body out. Elders, steam rolling off his burnt wrappings, quickly followed Seth into the elevator. He pressed a button code and the doors closed behind them, leaving the room in silence.

“This can’t be good,” John shook his head.

~

Back downstairs, somewhere between the thirty and the thirty-fifth floor, the small battle raged on. Huge began tossing any possible metal object at Aaron, who swiftly used a powerful gravitational kick, blocking each item. Ranzford created a large spiked ball on a chain from his left arm and swung it directly at Catherine. But before it could hit her, a fireball blasted against the chain. The heat melted and broke the chain, causing the ball to fly off, missing Catherine by inches, and crashing into the far wall. Catherine looked up thankfully to see John, but instead saw Kenny.

“What the hell are you doin’?!” Ranzford shouted, recoiling the broken chain back into an arm.

“We’re leaving,” was his only response as he turned and headed for the far doors of the elevator. Ranzford glared after him before yelling, “Hey, Luey! It’s time!”

The masked vigilante chucked one last knife at Roger before running for the elevator doors. Roger quickly dodged the knife by using a duplicate to shield himself.

One after another, each villain left, leaving the rest confused beyond all reason.

What the hell was that all about? Aaron thought. He glanced over to see Henry holding a body in his arms on the floor. Aaron’s eyes widened in horror. Oh my god, is that…?

~

Flanders wheezed as he slowly sunk further into his chair. His strength had been failing for the last couple of days and all energy had been drained from his body. Even his thin, frail body seemed to have grown skinnier.

The large steel door burst open, bringing light upon the dark room. Flanders used the last of his energy to throw his hand up and cover his eyes from the light.

“Hey! Shut the bloody door!” Flanders whispered hoarsely.

The door closed finally and Flander’s eyes quickly adjusted back to the darkness. He saw Mencelli leaning against the wall next to the door.

“Is it time to go finally?” Flanders groaned as he tried to pull himself out of the chair.

“For us,” Luey shrugged as he walked up to the chair. He looked down as the scraggily mess of Quinn Flanders, “Hey mate. You don’t look so well.”

“You think?!” Quinn groaned, “I’ve been hooked to these tubes for weeks!” he held out his hand weakly, “Can I get some help getting up?”

“Oh! Yeah, sure thing,” Luey reached for his hand.

A knife slowly slid out of Mencelli’s sleeve and he quickly grasped it, then plunging it into Flander’s heart. Flander’s eyes widened as he gasped for air. 

Luey leaned down next to Flander’s ear and whispered, “Zarian sends his regards.”

Flanders grabbed at Luey’s neck weakly in an attempt to choke him. Luey twisted the knife deeper into Quinn. A small sigh escaped Flanders as his body went limp.

After a moment, Mencelli pulled the bloodied knife out of the lifeless corpse and sheathed it back into his sleeve. He turned on his heel, heading towards the door, whispering under his breath, “Now the real fun begins…”

~

“Stand back! Give her room!” Verlin ordered as he rushed over to Henry and the motionless body of Clare Jenson. HE grabbed her wrist and began checking for any sign of a pulse.

Donovan, Draco, and John had made it to the lower and ran over to the group huddled around Verlin as he sighed deeply, “Nothing.”

“There has to be a way, Roger!” Henry croaked as tears streamed down his face. His stomach was turning out of control.

“She’s in shock. We don’t have any sort of material to jumpstart her heart!” Verlin explained calmly as he placed a hand on Henry’s shoulder, “I’m sorry son-.”

“Wait!” Henry pushed Roger’s hand away, “You can’t just call it like that! Check it again! Please!”

Roger looked up at Donovan hopelessly and Donovan nodded. Roger sighed again as he took Clare’s wrist in his hand one last time, checking for a pulse.

Henry hugged Clare tighter in his arms. Come on Clare, I know you’re there. After all this time. Please, hang in there. It’s not your time yet. Please, stay with me…

Roger’s eyes suddenly widened, “Wait a minute!” He readjusted his hand on her wrist quickly, “I’m getting something!”

Clare’s eyes slowly fluttered open, bright blue eyes looking up at Henry, who smiled down at her.

“Hey you,” she smiled back faintly.

“Welcome back,” Henry whispered as he hugged her gently.

“Leslie! Call for a medic! We need an ambulance down here!” Donovan began ordering, “The rest of us will follow those bastar-.”

“No,” Henry looked up at them, “We have something way bigger to prepare for.”

~