My Heart Pt. 2

When Brody had reached his father, he knelt by his father's side and wiped the tears from his eyes and the blood trail that traveled like a river from his plump lips to the bottom of his chin. Tears appeared in his own eyes when he gazed upon his father. For the first time in a long time, he had seen his father the same way he had seen him when he was fifteen. As a champion.
His father had coughed up massive amounts of blood trying to relay his last message to his son before his life essence was extinguished. His father looked up, face scrunched with pain, looking for his son. "Brody?" His father had coughed immensely, reaching for his father.
Brody quickly wrapped his father in his arms. "I'm here, pa. Talk to me, pa."
His father coughed vigorously and looked up into his son's eyes. It didn't shock him when he looked in his son's eyes and saw the mirror image of his own pupils. What shocked him was the light that shone inside of his dark brown eyes. It wasn't the shines of the innocence. It was the glimmer of a hero. The same one he held in his eyes at one point in time. At that moment, he was proud of his only son. He had found love again. True love. "I'm sorry, son. I wish I had the chance..."
He coughed again, blood spattering after every cough. His closed fists were covered in blood splatter as Brody clutched him even tighter. "Stop pa. Don't speak this way! You'll have plenty of chances to tell me when we make it through this."
His father had smiled. He realized how innocent his son was. "I'm sorry, son." He said as tears dripped from both of their eyes. "I can feel my life slipping every second that passes. I know I don't have long so there is something that I must tell you before I go." Tears continued to pour as Brody's pain reflected on his father's face. "Don't cry, Brody. We will be reunited once again, but before I leave I simply want you to know one thing."
Brody sucked up the tears and asked, sobbing, "What is it?"
Brody's father smiled. "I just want you to know that I love you son and..." In the middle of his statement, his father began coughing ferociously.
Brody shook his father violently, hoping he would catch his breath, but only coughs seemed to come out the more he tried to breathe. He looked like a man using an oxygen tank having an asthma attack while sitting in a second hand smoke storm. His eyes bulged as it seemed like all of the blood rushed to the white of his eyes. Minute red dots appeared in his eyes as the last thing he saw was his son's babyface, the same that looked so much like his own. He grasped Brody's arm with a deadly grip. His long fingers curled around Brody's lean, muscular arm as though he were holding on to dear life. He only had enough strength for one more sentence and all he had done was whisper to his son, "Save your sister." And then he embraced sweet death with a smile on his face. He had accomplished his mission and he died just as Brody remembered. A champion.
Tears dripped from Brody's chocolate face to his father's heavy dark cloak. He was oblivious to the dark essence leaving his father's body. Only sadness filled him. His body became tense with anger as the white flames returned. Soon the flames even consumed his father, cremating his father instantly. As he watched his father's ashes flow with the wind, he thought to himself, "At least he is at peace."
He stood up slowly, feeling a feeling of complete loneliness. The only family he had known was battling his best friend. He was stuck between Gilbator and the Grand Canyon. On one hand, he knew he could save his sister, but on the other, he was still unsure of whether he had wanted to be saved or not. But he still had to try.
One man or man-like being was not going to let that happen. Unbeknownst to Brody, his father's dark essence was flowing into the only obstacle between Brody and his twin. Levarius. And he would be hell bent to allow Brody to take away another one of his lieutenants.
He clapped his hands slowly while a flaming Brody watched as his best friend and his evil twin sister did battle. Levarius' black eyes glowed with anger but his smile was truly contradicting. He had lost a lieutenant to his brat of a son, but the confidence that came from the light within Brody intrigued him. For the first time in what seemed like eons he felt as though he had finally found a formidable foe. His taunts came soon after his discovery of his own peaked interests. "So the bastard son of one of my top lieutents would pose as a problem for me!" The closer Levarius got to Brody, the more he saw the emotionless features staring back at him. It was as though Brody was staring at nothing. This only made the taunts come harsher. "I guess you have the same strength of your dead mother don't you son! Key term, dead!"
Bailey was stunned at the sudden insult to her mother. The half a second she stopped to look at her brother calm and unfazed was more than enough for Chevy to gain an advantage. His hit to her gut staggered her. His finish to her face was the one blow that truly shocked her. She looked at Chevy with destructive eyes that screamed, "I can't believe you struck me!"
Brody saw the action that occured between Chevy and Bailey and he knew something had to be done. Levarius' screams provided a shrieking backdrop to his thoughts. He seemed to grow ten feet tall behind him and his voice boomed out of his body. "That you will soon see!"
Brody kept his gaze on his sister's blood trickle down her cheek. He realized as a bump began to appear on her forehead that she had not been immortal. Red blood still ran through her veins no matter how strong she was. He simply whispered to the winds, "I have to save my sister."
Levarius leaped into the air and his shadow seemed to take over the sun from the sky. For a brief moment, Brody was casted into complete darkness surrounded by nothing but the sounds of Levarius screaming. But even his horrific screams couldn't stir Brody's confidence. The white flames simply followed him as he made his trek torward the only family he had left.
Before Brody could take flight to where his sister was being juggled in the air by the hilt of Chevy's blade, his light was eclipsed by the long, large frame of Levarius. His wing span seemed to block the moonlight. One of his long arms came down on a not looking Brody, but as if Brody had a sixth sense, he turned around just in time to parry Levarius' attack. He placed his small hand on Levarius' extended torso and a light force pushed the giant of a man back a few steps. Brody turned around and stared at Levarius with determined eyes. Levarius returned the gaze with a determined stare of his own. Neither man was willing to give up any ground and so the battle of good and evil began.
Bullets bounced off of the bleek Franklin surroundings as Kayla let off rounds of anger toward her mother. Even Kylie wasn't safe from Kayla's onslaught as she exchanged blades with her mother. Neither were touched, but the sound of bullets whizzing past them didn't escape them either. The clashing of the blades and the acrobatics performed as they parried and dodged each other was like watching lyrics move on a musical scale. They were pure poetry in motion, mother and daughter exchanging heated blows to one another. Both of their blades came close to one another, but it wasn't until their mother received a bullet to the shoulder that Kylie gained any kind of advantage. The short pause that occured when their mother staggered back was just enough time for Kylie to deliver a paralyzing blow to her mother's clavicle. But as Kylie pushed the blow deeper and deeper into her clavicle, fear struck Kylie's dark eyes. Her mother had simply smiled and with what seemed like an inappropriate undertone, her seductive voice whispered, "Deeper." Kylie took that as a direct insult and shoved the blade deeper, but the deeper it got, the more pleasure her mother seemed to get as she continued to whisper, "Deeper. Deeper, yes daughter, that's it. There you go baby. I always knew that you were going to be the stronger daughter." She said this while laughing maniacally as Kylie stood with her hilt touching the top of her mother's breast.
Confusion filled both Kayla and Kylie. Kylie stood aghast, wondering how her mother was still living even after being penetrated by so many inches of steel. While Kylie stood with her hand on her blade, Kayla took aim, and her scowl deepened as she took aim and fired. The bullets intended target was their mother's forehead and her heart, but as the bullets grew closer, they slowed down then came to a complete stop when her eyes gently gazed upon them. Through sheer wilpower she had cheated death. Twice. "Now, my youngest daughter, I will show you how to properly use your power." She palmed Kylie in the chest, sending her backwards into her sister. Kayla was disorientated as she caught her sister in her arms. Kylie's hurt eyes traveled up to her mother as a trail of blood trickled down her youthful face. Kayla wiped the blood off of her sister's face and she too looked at their mother with a look of extreme shock and anger. But their mother was unfazed. Even with a two foot blade stuck in her clavicle, their mother still exuded power beyond belief and demonstrated it when she slowly removed the blade from her body.
When she threw the blade down, her daughters noticed the intense gleam in her eye as the wound healed miraculously in front of them. That's when they learned they had a fight on their hands and with Kylie being unarmed, their plight was looking dire indeed.
On top of the same rooftop that held an unconscious Smartz, Chevy and Bailey, both bloodied stood a meters apart, face to face with one another. Both face to face with danger. Chevy's hurt stare was returned by Bailey's evil scowl as she glared at the man who was once her lover. Her grip on her blade became tighter as her eyebrows fell even lower. Chevy was beginning to lose his resolve. All he could see was the woman he loved standing in front of him.
"Why you stop fighting, Chevy!?" She yelled from across the roof with such confidence, such anger, but her angelic features still shined through, and those features proved impossible for Chevy to ignore. "Why did you stop!?" She continued to scream, but all he could do was stare. The anger grew on her face as a mold would spread over bread, stretching all throughout her face. First, her thin, jet black eyebrows lowered over her seductive brown eyes. Then her nose crinkled. Then her mouth formed a scowl, bearing all of her teeth, including her four deadly fangs. Then the rage simply took over.
Her burst of speed was astounding as she rushed toward the unwavering Chevy. His emotionless stare watched her move rapidly across the roof. She quickly unleashed her blade onto what seemed to be a suspended Chevy. He did not move until her blade was inches away from his face. Simply off of reaction, his blade blocked her sword's original target. She was shocked only for a second before regaining her footing and swinging her blade from off the heel of her foot, aiming for the other side of his face. Thinking that he would not have enough time to dodge the oncoming attack, she was sure that her strike was true. Wrong. Once again his sword had found a way to block her blade's path. She became beserk and started swinging wildly, but her swings were deflected just as easily as the first two were. No matter how angry she had become, no matter how fast her swings were, she was still easily parried by the strokes of his sword.
As she swung, she began to notice the change that had begun occuring in front of her. The blade that blocked her slices as though they were nothing started to become purple claws that slashed at the air with such animosity that the air around her cackled like a strike of lightning. She had felt how fast he was becoming. Her blade reverberated in her hand as she realized his newfound strength.
His eyes had changed from his low, playful brown eyes to purple and white cat-like eyes. Completely void of emotion. White fur sprouted from his skin and purple angel wings jutted out of his back. His heart had been sucked dry of any emotions that may have fluttered there. He had become a demon, the same demon that Brody had calmed and soothed was now back and in full battle mode. In Chevy's heart, he felt as though there was no point in holding back. There was no point in turning back into the man that held on to the hope of love and righteousness. He was a broken man. He had lost the love of his life. He had lost his child. Now the only love he had was fighting against the odds and him being the broken man he was, was not about to lose anymore friends. Anymore brothers. In his heart, this was war.
He quickly went on the offensive with a downward thrust of his dangerously sharp claws, creating a small rift in the roof of the dilapidated building. She looked at the sheer power of the thrust as his claws easily passed through the somewhat reinforced rooftop as she quickly dodged the blow intended for her and she realized quickly that she was in grave danger of losing.
While she was fighting for her life, her twin was experiencing his own personal fight for his life as him and Levarius exchanged blows. Even though Brody was small in stature, he held his own with the gigantic Levarius as the extremely stretched monster of a man rained blows on to Brody. Brody brushed the furious onslaught to the side as his bright flames seemed to help him deflect a few of blows, but even his immensely bright flame aura couldn't block all of the shots and Brody found himself staggering back as the claw thrusts and punches became too much for the short, confident man. His white suit soon had splatters of red blood droplets to corrupt the pure white color of the suit. For the first time in a long time, Brody was unsure if he would actually win this battle.
Then an unexpected turn of events occured that both Brody and Levarius was not expecting. Nic Angel, seemingly quiet, had came out of nowhere with a forceful punch to Levarius' chest. The shockwave from Nic's attack had sent Levarius a few meters backwards, his tall, lanky legs sinking deeper and deeper into the concrete. Nic panted as Brody stood shocked and angry. His fists clenched as the white flame all around him grew into a purifying inferno. Anger was apparent on his face when he asked with his teeth grinding together, "Why did you do that!? Why did you interfere!? I had him!"
With his smuggest face, Nic answered, "Cuz it looked like you needed help."
The fury that came from him boiled inside of the blood trail running down his chin. The flames roared with power, almost a small inferno erupted off of his white suit. Revenge and anger began to surface all over Brody's body. Not even so much toward Nic, mainly toward Levarius, the man responsible for all of his losses. His sister. His father. Q. Brittney. Wiz Kid. All of those who he cared for who suffered because of those losses. Chevy. Smartz. Vengence.
As the flames licked his wounds clean and burnt the blood off of his face and his suit, Nic's child-like eyes saw something else brewing inside of that anger. Inner peace. He saw that Brody was becoming content with being angry. He could tell that Brody was tired of fighting against the demons that raged within him. Brody let out a vicious roar as the flame all over him doubled in size. Nic backed away instinctively, putting his hands level with his developed chest as a gesture of surrender. "Whoa, boss. You okay, cuz? What's the matter with you?" No matter what Nic said, it seemed to only fall on deaf ears as anger continued to pour from his mouth. All of that pent up rage found its release. It was like shaking a bottle soda then removing the lid. Brody had became a human volcano.
A sudden burst of transluscent flames erupted out of Brody's body. The sudden woosh of heat and energy didn't even seem to faze Nic as his empathetic brown eyes fell on the flames bursting from Brody's small frame. He knew the pain of losing loved ones. If he could have went his whole life without seeing another soul kindred to his, he would have been happy. He wouldn't wish that pain on anyone, but at the same time, he knew exactly what to say to his friend. Against the roar of the inferno that curled and twisted around Nic, his voice seemed like nothing more than a whisper, but that soft touch of wind touched his ear. "This isn't you." Brody's ears perked up and his attention was directed toward Nic, his burning brown eyes pierced Nic's soul. His dark pupils asked the question, "What did you say?" Nic just shook his head and lowered his hat over his semi-long curly hair. He looked behind him to see an approaching angry Levarius. Nic just openly stared into his abyss like eyes, and then turned around as if he were a gentle breeze coming. As if the source of all of their woes came second place to Brody. He looked deep into Brody's furious eyes. The hurt was all too familiar. "You're better than this, Brody. You stronger than this, cuz." Brody's inferno doubled again and soon he became the main focal of the entire of the entire small town of Franklin. "Fight it, cuz." Nic said calmly, "Fight it.", he repeated. He saw that his words were beginning to have an effect on Brody as Brody cupped his hands over his ears. His screams became shrieks as he hunched over in pain.
He buckled to his knees as the flames around him dimmed. Nic walked closer and closer to Brody, exposing himself to the painful tongue lashing of the fiery inferno. The closer he got to Brody, the more he noticed the tears streaming down his face, igniting like small trails of gasoline. He placed a strong, gentle hand on Brody's tense shoulder and whispered, "It's okay, dog. It's cool, cuz. Just keep fighting it."
When the demonic flame dimmed to a flicker in Brody's eyes, the tears were revealed as they dropped onto the flame licked asphalt. Brody used the cuff of his white jacket to wipe the evidence of his pain off of his face. His voice was soft as it trailed out of his mouth. "Why you helping me? This isn't your fight. This was a fight between me and my demons, so why step in? Why'd you stop from ending everything!?"
Nic simply smiled and readjusted his hat on his shaggy brown hair. He looked at his downed friend and simply answered, "Just cuz. Everybody need help sometimes." He turned around and stared at the maniacal approaching Levarius and shook his. His wide smile told Nic that Levarius was still fully confident in his control of the battle. He decided then that he was going to break that confidence. Without looking at the doubled over Brody, Nic spoke softly to coax Brody's shattered bravado. "Look cuz, whatever's going on in your head, you gotta push that to the side and you gotta fight with us. I know..." He lowered and shook his head, "...it's selfish of us to ask, but we as a whole can't function without our heart, our inspiration. You helped all of us out along the way and you made it seem like it was easy, not even giving us a clue that you were hurting inside. But now that we know, we can't just ignore that. But at the same time, we have an enemy to face that is much bigger than the problems we face on the dail, cuz. You have to get it together because you are our leader. Anything else, we can handle together, later." Brody began to rise, feeling inspired by the comforting words. He knew in his heart that he always wanted to make a change in the community around him. He always wanted to be someone younger kids looked up to. He knew that, he understood that. What he didn't know was that he could create positive change all around him, including a positive change in his friends. For the first time in his life, he felt like somebody's hero, and in his heart, he couldn't let his friends down, not the people who seemed to have trusted him the most. It was time for him to make a stand right there.
He stood completely erect and looked at where his sister seemed to be battling for her life and his expression became spaced out. He nonchalantly spoke as his words caught Nic by total surprise. "I gotta save my sister."
Nic turned his head to the side, facing Brody with his profile. "Well go save her, cuz. I can handle it from here, dog."
With his back turned toward Nic, Brody smiled and said softly, "Appreciate ya, dog."
Nic smiled back and replied, "Nah, appreciate you, cuz."
With that, Brody bursted into the air after his sister, but Levarius had otherplans. Levarius lunged into the air in an effort to intercept Brody while he was in flight. A spark went off in Nic's eyes, and then came his disappearance.
His knee was in Levarius' long torso, embedded deep into his muscular rib area. Levarius absorbed all of the force of the impact and his body leaned away from his knee as Levarius made his descent to the ground.
What at first seemed like a slow fall, definitely turned into an even quicker plummet to the asphalt. Nic descended slow with his fists clenched. He knew he had a fight on his hands.
Levarius slowly got up, and Nic thought that he had damaged Levarius. But when he saw the fury steaming off of his light blue tinted skin, he knew that he would have to do alot better than a knee to his ribs.
That smile, that maniacal smile flashed across his face, and in an instant, Nic thought to himself, "I may have bit off more than he could chew." And with that, the battle begun.

My Heart Pt. 1

The clapping came at a slow rythym as the sounds grew closer and closer. The evil energy the four shadows created astounded Brody, stopping him and his crew in their tracks. Every muscle in his body tensed, but he now, more than ever, he could not show any weakness. It couldn't show any fear or his family would reflect on it. So instead he stated calmly to Wiz Kid, "Wiz....take Mama Chevy and Smartz somewhere safe."
Wiz Kid, metallic skin shimmering in the moonlight, was hurt, feeling as though he could help on the battlefield. "But Brody....."
"Just do it, Wiz!" Brody growled. Brody's eyes roared at Wiz Kid, but the loud roar softened to a whisper. Tears formed on his voicebox as he continued. "Just go, Wiz."
Wiz Kid grumbled under his breath as Brody finished his statement with a calm in his voice. "Just do what I said, okay? It's for the best, believe me, it's just better if you don't see our demons."
Wiz Kid saw the tear jerking in his eye, and he knew something was wrong. His suspicions were confirmed when a dark, deep voice boomed inside of his ears. "Is that what you think of me, son?" The smile had a smugness about it as one of the silhouettes stepped out of its shadow with a face that was a mirror image of Brody's. "Is that what you see when you look at me? A demon?" He smiled and revealed a brilliant set of teeth equipped with two fangs on his top row of teeth that reeked of danger. "Maybe you are just ashamed of us, Brody. Maybe you don't want your young friend to know where you come from."
Brody had a scowl that looked as though it had been carved on his face. The pain was so deep in his heart that if he had fell in the pool of misery, he surely would have drowned. But his nature to remain calm when cornered had taken over and he gave his father a mischievous smirk. "What do I have to be ashamed for? You ain't my real daddy. You're just a shell of what a legend used to be. A has-been. Washed up." His smile grew wider as he continued to taunt his father. "I'm just disappointed in seeing what you've become. You used to be my hero, then you..."
Brody's father interjected with a smile on his face, "Died?" The words sunk deep into Brody's heart. It had been the first time Brody had seen his father alive in what had seemed like an eternity and now here he stood, on the opposite side of his son. It broke his heart. "Yes son, I was once a champion of the people, that is until I saw how fruitless it was to defend a population that was destined to destoy itself. I fought for years to try and curb the madness, but then I realized, I was training you, Kayla, and Kylie to survive in a world that was going to eventually destroy itself. That was the reason I allowed my soul to be consumed by the madness that was the Evil Virus. I wanted power. Enough power to change the world to my image. I think that is the reason we are still alive. We wanted power for ourselves and our children."
The only thought that popped up in Brody's head was, "We?"
Then the other silhouettes began to reveal themselves. The first to reveal herself was a beautiful blonde haired woman with elongated fangs and small purple bat wings fluttering to a melody unheard. Her face was eerily similar to Kayla's. Brody recognized her instantly as Kayla and Kylie's mother. He looked at Kylie and saw tears streaming down her face as she turned her head to face her sister, whom had the same tears coming down her face. She mouthed, "Is that her?" Kayla nodded her head and Kylie turned her head back to her mother's angelic face. She had looked just as beautiful as she had inside of her coffin. Kylie wasn't young enough to forget that sleeping face in the coffin. She had seen her lowered into the ground. She had watched the dirt bury her in her eternal resting place. "How could she be here?" She thought, desperately searching for answers. Brody had felt for the two women. Their plight was shared by him. He too had been there when his father died. The real question was if they had seen them die, had seen them buried, how was it they were standing in front of them.
While in thought, Kayla and Kylie's mother voice sang to her children as if they were young babies again. "Kylie? Why are you crying, sweetheart?" She advanced toward her daughter in an affectionate manner with her arms extended. "Haven't you missed me, dear?" Her cold hands were inches away from wiping the tears from Kylie's face when Kylie used her blade to shield her from her mother's mock love.
Her mother jumped back to Brody's father's side with a malicious smile on her face. Kylie's dark eyes rang dark and true. Her expression was that of a warrior. Her blood boiled inside of her veins. Her anger was equivalent to the greatest of hate and watching her mother's purple eyes dance with pleasure, knowing that she was bringing her daughters pain, disgusted Kylie. It was like watching mucus pour out of an open sore. Her mother simply smiled, "I guess you guys didn't miss me that much." Her laugh was loud and cruel as Kayla's composure broke down instantly.
She fell to her knees, crying into the black tar street. "Why? Why? Why?", was the only thing she kept crying. Kylie saw the pain of her kneeling sister and it caused her heart to cave into itself. All the love she had in the world had fallen immensely after seeing the sight of her hurt sister. She clutched her blade and rose it to point at her mother. "Listen succubus, you are not my mom! You may be a demon inside of her but I guarantee I will rip you out of her myself and this I promise you that!"
A coyful smile appeared on her mother's face. "Truly a mother's daughter."
A destructive laugh appeared next out of the silhouettes. The woman of Chevy's dreams appeared in front of him wearing a small black skirt with her toned legs covered in black leggings and a tightfitting black with a red slash in the middle that spelled dangerous. Her demeanor was different than how he remembered. Gone was the look of utter innocence. A woman with no flaws replaced by the devil's spawn complete with a flame red hilt attached to a blood stained giant of a blade and one small, blood red bat wing that jutted from her right shoulder. Those dark eyes pierced right through him when their pupils crossed paths. It was as though she could see right through him. "Wow! So this is how a daughter talks to her mother!? Disgusting!" Brody's eyes grew to the size of golfballs when he saw his sister's dark brown eyes. The same eyes he had. "Then again, we wouldn't know nothing about a mother, would we, Brody?"
Brody smiled holding all of his anger deep inside. "Low blow, Sissy. Low blow."
"Forever the calm one, aren't you, Brody? Guess you took your patience from her didn't you?"
"Guess so. I kind of wish you had. Maybe you wouldn't have been so rash to join with him." He said while his eyes pointed toward his father.
"I was always the one who lived a faster paced life than you." She walked seductively toward her brother. Her walk was silk in the wind. She was grace personified.
When she reached him, her gentle fingers stroked his face as Kylie gripped her blade angrily. "And to think I looked up to her." She thought with her brown pupils burning in anger.
"I drank first, I cussed first, I smoked first, I fucked first...It isn't that right, Chevy?" Her fingers walked away from Brody's chin to the air, toying with him as they played in the air. "You see..." She said with her head slightly turned toward her twin, ".....you've always been chasing in my shadow."
What a bitch. He shook his head, realizing that his sister wasn't truly the angel he thought she was. Chevy just stared at her as their brown eyes stood face to face with one another. A tear fell from his eye as the only thing that passed through his mind was, "What of my child?"
As if she read his mind, her evil smile curved on her face. "You probably want to hear news of your son don't you?"
A son. Chevy stood in shock. Not knowing what to say, he became stone, immovable as she continued with her statement. "He is as safe as he could be. The only thing he asks all of the time is where is his daddy. Where is his uncle. He needs y'all in his life and for my son, I am willing to do anything."
"As am I." Brody's father said simply.
Bailey walked back to her father's side and directed her attention to the entire group. "That is the reason we have revealed ourselves to you. We don't truly wish to fight you. We don't even wish y'all any harm. We simply would like for you to join us in our quest. Our quest for greatness. Our quest for change." She stretched her arm toward Brody, her eyes toying with her brother's broken heart. "Will you join us, bro? Will you join me, Johnny?"
The last voice sounded like a shadow of an even greater evil. He was tall and lanky with pale blue tinted skin and eyes as dark as night. They looked as though they should've been the home to the moon. His smile had the same brilliance as the stars around him. He was so alien that it was beautiful, and his voice only added to his brooding radiance. "Yes, won't you join us, Brody? Won't you join the change?"
Brody closed his eyes, capturing the image of the alien E-v, with his messy, dark hair and perfectly tailored pinstriped blue suit, and instant hatred formed in his heart. The picture of the demon that corrupted not only his father, but his sister and so many others. He couldn't forgive him for that. "So you did this to my family, our family?" A tear dripped down his face.
Levarius smiled a toothy smile. "I guess if you really want to point fingers..." His voice was smug.
Brody's calm was lost as he clenched his fists, ten seconds away from take off. "But why?"
"Change."
A white light surrounded Brody's fists as anger steamed out of his body. His eyes let out a bright white and an even brighter white flame had burned inside of his mouth. And before another second could pass, Brody had thrown the first punch. But it had been stopped by a dark force. His father's powerful hand gripped his son's small, strong fist.
Their combined forces exploded in the air, and then their forces were seperated. His father's interference only angered him more. "So you defend him!? Over your son!?"
Brody's father shook his head, disappointed. "No son, I defend change."
A rift of an evil smile formed on her beautiful wheat colored face. "And so you have made your choice, bro!" She said raising her sword to point at her brother's face. He never felt so betrayed in his life.
Levarius whispered, but his soft speech was not lost on anyone's ears. The situation intensified ten times as blood began to boil, muscles began to tense, and powers began to reveal themselves. The words that had the same ring as the word fight, had entered into their ears. "Wrong choice."
Just then, it was as if a fleet of monsters rose up from the asphalt into the air. Everyone jumped to action, reacting off of the moment. All of their powers surfaced at the same time. Kylie and her mother's blades clashed against one another as did Chevy's and Bailey's. Nic lunged toward Levarius lit with brilliant flame that burned white.
Forever the cautious one, Brody analyzed the madness around him, taking everything happening around him into account. His brown eyes scanned the battlefield. That was when he noticed his father doing the exact same thing. His father's black eyes searched for his next victim, the next object where he could show a display of his massive power. That's when he locked eyes with the petrified Wiz Kid.
Wiz Kid knew he was staring at death when he saw Brody's father raise his finger chest level to Wiz Kid. He felt as though he had got what he wished for moments after he no longer wanted it. He was sure that he was going to be granted a beautiful death. Seeing the iminent danger posed to his friend, Brody turned around and screamed, "Wiz! Grab Mama Chevy and get out of here!" But it was too late. Wiz Kid had already embraced the thought of death.
A massive unseen force dealt a fatal blow to Wiz Kid's exposed chest. There wasn't even any time for Wiz Kid to react logically. There was just not enough time. A small hole appeared where Wiz Kid's heart should have been, and it looked as though Brody's father had removed Wiz Kid's heart mentally.
Brody stood in utter shock when he saw Wiz Kid fall slowly to the ground. When he hit the ground, Brody knew instanty that Wiz Kid was dead. A tear dripped down his face as a great sadness overwhelmed him. Then came the anger. Then the white, burning light appeared all around and he was at peace again. Chevy's mother screamed as she looked at Wiz Kid's stiff, lifeless body. His metal had lost its shine and his skin became pale. His eye movements stilled. He was just a lifeless being. But her screams never made it past the white flame that burned bright around Brody. The only thing he saw was his father's smile. "He was happy to cause such hurt. He was thankful for his power to cause utter mayhem. " It was at that moment that he knew somthing had to be done.
He walked past the acrobatics of Bailey, past the angry swings of Chevy's purple, angelic sword. He walked past Kayla's gun's angry bursts of bullets aimed for her mother, and past Kylie's decisive sword swings so he could stand toe to toe with his father. His father, being a whole six inches taller than him, smiled and spoke with the confidence of a commander. "So you stand and face me now, huh son?" His voice held a slight insincere tone as he asked that question.
Brody didn't answer. He simply raised his flaming hands to his father's heart and a rush of heaven flooded over him. As the warm flames burned against him, Brody'd forgiveness sweeped through him. He forgave his father for leaving him to a world that didn't want him. He forgave for taking Bailey, the only anchor he had left in the cruel world of 2090. He forgave him for fighting against him when he only wanted to make the world a better place because at the end of the day, Brody still loved his father, very much.
Love. It had been so unfamiliar for so long that Brody's father had forgotten what it was like to feel unconditional love for anyone. He had been so wrapped up inside of his own mission, that he had forgot what love was. His black, corroded heart began to beat again for the first time in years. For the first time, his father had a sincere smile on his face.
Levarius saw the happenings between Brody and his father, and he knew that he was losing a key component in his plans for domination. His long, lanky frame shoved Nic aside so forcefully that Nic flew into one of the nearby buildings, creating a crater in the wall and knocking Nic unconscious instantly.
While slumber was forced on Nic, Levarius lunged toward Brody and his father and with his dark power, he extinguished the burning flame that was bonded between father and son. Brody jumped backwards with his fists clenched as he realized the source of evil that contaminated his remaining family members. He looked directly into Levarius' black pupils and he thought to himself, "You are the reason why. You are the reason for the black hearts that pump inside of my family's chest." His bright flames grew into a pure inferno as the once small, noticeable flames consumed him. Before the flames could take over his face, Brody let out a loud scream that told everyone around him that he was no longer losing anymore of his family members. "No more!"
When the flames consumed his face, a large beam of the purest energy shot out of Brody's mouth and struck Levarius directly in the chest. The beam sucked out all of the flames that had taken over Brody's body, sending Levarius far enough away that Brody had enough time to sprint to where his father had lain fighting for conciousness.

Franklin

A couple of weeks later back in Nashville, Wiz Kid stood on top of a lonely skyscraper wallowing in pain. He wondered how it was that a man with an infinite amount of intelligence couldn't figure out how he could end his own life. In the past few days, he was attacked by multiple masked villains, each one worse than the next, but somehow he managed to survive each and every attack. Still, he was battling an opponent where his wits nor his strength would help. A bout with loneliness. A war with a broken heart.
He closed his eyes and he allowed the darkness to envelope over his body. He couldn't figure out what kept him pressing forward. Without Brittney, the war between good and evil seemed pointless. He could feel every emotion faltering out of his metallic shell. Sadness swept over him. Hot tears filled his eyes as they streamed down the metallic surface of his face creating a warm trail of pain and despair across his face. The moonlight illuminated the face of a man broken.
The sharp wind blew the tears off of his face as he opened his eyes where his vision was greeted by the beautiful sights of night time Nashville. Something about the city was extremely beautiful. Maybe it was the deceptive way it shined while still housing dangers incomprehensive to that of the underworld. Wiz Kid was from this underground world. He knew the inner workings of the underground. He knew all about the existence of the E-v. He was one of the rebellious monsters the virus had created. He had related to every part of the struggle of being different. He accepted it. But now, he wasn't sure if just being an E-v was enough without Brittney. He was unsure about life and his place in the world. For the first time in his young life, he wanted to experience the sweet release of death. He wondered if Heaven had any room for an E-v.
Then a sharp pain stabbed his heart. He grabbed his chest, clutching a handful of his small Cool Kidd t-shirt. The metal on his body warmed up and it felt as though he were diving head first into a supernova. He had never felt this feeling before, but somehow it still felt familiar. It was as if someone he knew, someone he was extremely close to was in pain, mortal pain. As the heat brought tears to his eyes, he extended his hand toward the sky, reaching out for the kindred spirit whose pain effected him so. He knew this kindred spirit. He had felt her essence many times before but the burning sensation happening all over his body would not allow him a moment of calm. His anger began to take over him as the metallic exoskeleton grew even hotter, but by now, his nerves had gotten used to the heat. The wind had blew the tears that obstructed his vision from his eyes. He stood off of his knees and ripped the shirt off of his torso, revealing his fit chrome covered midsection, and he looked to the sky with a determination that was marked by the intensity of the moonlight. Their stare was intense as they watched each other from complete echelons of the universe, and it was there that Wiz Kid deemed himself an equal to the moon's magnifence. His confidence was certain again. He knew who was in pain now. He would always recognize that level of intelligence and power. He would also know the feeling of mass suffering whenever he felt it. It just felt like a great depression in the space around him, a sudden sadness. It made him close his eyes and envision all of the screeching faces, their smoke blue faces filling his daydream. It was clear to him what was going on. He had found Smartz. He had the location of all the suffering. Franklin was under attack.
He saw in his mind the images of extremely armored tanks and extremely clad soldiers marching through the small town. The small town of Franklin did not take kindly to bein invaded and being the notoriously dangerous town, legions of E-vs fought against the soldiers. The innocent civilians found themselves in the middle of the crossfire. Pedestrians crowded into various hiding spots after they witnessed runners become moving targets picked off by E-vs and soldiers alike. It was complete chaos and he felt the whole weight of sadness fall on his shoulder. His head fell when he learned that Smartz had been the leader of this destructive army. But as quickly as he let those emotions get him depressed, he picked his head back up, ready to face his enemy who was once his friend.
He closed his eyes and materialized angelic wings with metallic roots. The massive wing span flapped against the air lifting him off of the skyscraper. His clenched fists opened just enough to fit the grips of lightweight and poweful mini assault rifles. With that, his transformation was complete and his wings flapped one more time and he found his home in the air. The metallic wings soon caught him in the air, transforming into an extremely advanced bomber complete with flowing moving wings. It didn't even appear to have an energy source as it's dark green color breezed through the starlit sky. He closed his eyes and sent Chevy that Q, his mama, and the whole town of Franklin was in danger.
The message was instaneous. Chevy sat up from his driver seat and whipped the car around, creating havoc on the road ahead and behind him. His eyes gleamed angrily as his hand gripped the wheel. His grip was poweful enough to dent the mold of the steering wheel as he sped through traffic. He bobbed and weaved. He barely dodged other cars. His anger had amplified his driving abilities far beyond human comprehension. His turns were crisp. He moved in and out of the cars so perfectly, it looked as though the car blended in with hectic environment.
It didn't matter that he was breaking every rule of the road. It didn't matter that he endangered hundreds of innocent people. The only thing that mattered was the fact that his mother was under attack and his best friend was in deep trouble. His hometown had been undersiege and he found it hard to remain calm with the woman who meant the most to him in trouble. Even with the red and blue sirens flashing behind him, he still drove with a reckless abandon. He flicked his middle finger while he steered the vehicle. While he showed how much he cared about authority, he yelled in the car, "If you want me, come find me in Franklin."
When the police officer seen the chaos Chevy was heading to, he turned off. Chevy just smiled. He knew their was coward in his blood, and Chevy loved to be right. Chevy took his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed Kayla's number. It only rung twice. "What you doing, man?"
Urgency filled her voice as she answered the phone. "Where are you?"
"I'm back in the hood! Look, I don't know what's going on, but, Wiz sent a message. I know it was him. Only he could do that man, I'm gone. I'm gone! Mama in trouble, Q in trouble, I gotta go!"
"Calm down!" She yelled into the phone. "What's going on?"
Just as he was about to answer, Chevy attempted to swerve in front of Q as a barrage of gunfire exploded toward Q. No matter how many bullets filled the car, even after he jumped out of the car and tackled Q to the ground, he saw he still couldn't cease the bleeding occuring in Q's chest. Chevy held Q in his arms as Chevy wiped blood from his mouth. Q's voice was shaky, and Chevy knew his best friend was going to die in his arms.
"Chevy...." Q called out softly. "Chevy...."
"Shut up. Save your strength." Chevy's voice sounded like that of a paramedic. Urgent with a hint of hope. A pinch of it'll be okay, even though both Chevy and Q knew otherwise.
Q smiled and coughed, sputtering loose blood all over Chevy's forearm. Chevy felt his skin warm with the presence of his best friend's blood. "What strength, Chevy? You ain't figure it out yet?" Chevy knew exactly what Q was talking about. He just didn't want to admit it to himself. "Aint no strength left in me dog."
"You still breathing ain't ya?"
"Not for long, Johnny." Chevy hadn't heard his real name said by anyone in a long time. When be heard that, he knew it was serious.
"What happened?" Chevy tried to keep his voice as calm as possible as to not cause too much alarm.
Q coughed hysterically before falling back into Chevy's arms. He looked into Chevy's eyes and answered, "Armegheddon, man. The end of the world." A dark figure stood on the skyscraper with a silhouette shade and peering red eyes. It felt as though it were burrowing a hole into his soul. He knew that was Smartz. Q struggled to point out the dark figure as he stuttered the word, "De...De...Devi....Devil!!!" And with that, his friend for what seemed like his whole life died in his arms.
Chevy knelt over him with tears streaming on Q's lifeless face. He hadn't felt his face scrunch like that in a long time. Matter of fact, the last time he felt tears break through his guard like this was when he lost his father. He looked at the shadow he figured was responsible for his friend's death. When he saw the shadowy figure, his vision of Shadow Smartz was obscured as two armored lean muscular werewolves leaped toward Chevy's mother. The fear on her face was apparent as she saw these two monsters flailing their alluminated armor with their sharp claws slicing through the air. Chevy yelled to her, but when his words reached her, she turned around to see her son's face filled with anxiety as the monsters descended upon her. But then a miracle occured. The werewolf soldiers were stopped in the air. Their lean necks having extreme pressure applied as their oxygen supply was cut extremely short. A dark shadow appeared in one of the werewolves as Chevy watched one of the werewolves be massacred by a hand with snake like movements with a shadow emerging from the lean muscular arm. The shadow marked the movements happening all over the werewolf's body, but the pain on its face marked the amount of suffering the werewolf was going through. When the werewolf was kicked down to the ground, it writhed and twisted in pain as the armor on its body melted into its flesh. It smelled the nose hairs on its snout burning as the monster simply melted along with its armor with the last thing the soldier seen was the metal from its helmet melting into its pupils.
In the other hand, the luckier hand, a bright light formed around the other werewolf. After witnessing what happened to his brother-in-arms, the soldier was not excited to see what fate had in store for him. The bright whiteness came over its body. Then a large white beam came from the werewolf's vicious snout. Then he was dropped. When the cocoon of light diminished, it revealed a beautiful, slim woman with a creme complexion, jet black hair, and ruby red lips. She was beautiful. Chevy's mother was on her but now, crawling backwards with her hands as the once werewolf now beautiful subdued creature laid peacefully a few yards away from her. Her savior descended slowly toward her. He revealed his handsome face to Chevy's mother and in an instant, she recognized him, and her gold toothed smile was alluminated by the moonlight. "Brody?"
He smiled and responded with as much love as his big, black heart could muster. His evil eyes travelled over her body in the most maternal manner. "Wassup mama?"
"Boy you scared me!" She stood off of the ground with a sudden calm. "Come here, boy!"
Brody walked directly into a strong embrace, squeezing her tightly with his right hand, steering clear of her with the hand that could cause her immense suffering. "You know I had to come save my mama."
His eyes closed while both of them smiled under the shimmer of the moon. She said with a voice full of confidence, "I wasn't worried, baby. I seen Johnny over there and I knew he would step in for me."
"Chevy here?" Brody took his face from her flower scented neck and turned his head in multiple directions. "Where is he?"
She turned her head in Chevy's direction and a look of horror came over her face. Chevy had been undergoing a transformation of his own. His muscles tensed from the immense power brewing inside of his body. His car had transformed as well. His once immaculate black became a monster, shedding its metallic skin for purple scales running over the body of the car and long, flowing hair coming from the front bumper and hood of the car. Angelic wings emerged from the top of the car as it elongated and hovered above the ground. The head lights soon lost their yellow luster, turning into large black pupils that peered into the city of Nashville. A large roar exited out of the monsters ten foot long body as the front bumper turned into a vicious set of of teeth and a snout that snarled anger. It flew in the air as its long, white air danced in the air. It flew and wrapped itself around Chevy in a protective stance, making sure that no harm came to its master. Chevy's transformation was complete as his eyes held a white flame.
The anger in his face was apparent. Brody and Chevy's mother gazed at Chevy from afar as Chevy clinched his fists. Chevy's mother knew the face on Chevy all too well. It reminded her of his father's face.
Soldiers surrounded him in an attempt to dogpile on top of him. Chevy screamed and his voice echoed a disaster as it rang through the streets of Franklin. The soldiers took this as a sign of war and ran to meet Chevy's indecipherable war call. In all shapes and sizes, the soldiers ganged up on Chevy, not realizing the new power that Chevy held in his new form. The closer the soldiers got, the more they realized they have made a grave mistake. The long dragon like familiar unraveled its self away from Chevy and placed its well developed teeth into various bodies of the opposing soldiers. Brody saw what the soldiers didn't see. The soldiers were in imminent danger.
Chevy moved at speeds unknown to mankind. He appeared in front in one of the E-v soldier's face, and his hand appeared around the neck of the soldier. His superstrength was futile against Chevy. The soldier's large biceps covered in black scales fought against Chevy's immovable grip. The other soldiers took a step back as they witnessed their comrades being massacred by Chevy's familiar. The familiar roared and proceeded to attack all of the surrounding agents.Chevy's bright flaming eyes stared deeply into the soldier's eyes as fear ran in the minds of his comrades a few yards away from them. Even though they were immensely scared of what was going to happen to their comrade, curiousity filled their hearts. Soon their curiousity would be fulfilled.
"You killed my best friend." Chevy uttered angrily. "You know the kind of pain you put me through?" The soldier continued to struggle as he fought to catch an ounce of breath. Chevy smiled at the sight of the monster's suffering. "Now you will know my pain." At that exact moment, Chevy's familiar flew into his lean back and he became possessed by his familiar's rage. His eyes burned even brighter as the familiar's spirit began to take over Chevy's body. The transformation occured soon after.
Chevy's body began to take on the properties of his familiar as purple scales surfaced all over his body. His tight fitting shirt couldn't contain the muscle Chevy was developing. His white soon ripped through the white v-neck as four large purple wings tore from his back. His legs became that of a dog's hind legs as Chevy in his monstrous form screamed as though he were in intense physical pain. The soldier didn't have a choice to watch Chevy become a monster as Chevy's grip became tighter and tighter. The soldier fought to stay conscious, but the sight of Chevy's new gorgeous white mane brought fear into the soldier's heart. Chevy growled at the soldier squirming in his palm, and with a deepset scowl and a pair of the darkest pupils the soldier had ever seen, Chevy roared, "Feel my hatred!" And then everything for the soldier turned completely black as his comrades watched the brother-in-arms butcher the soldier. It was then, after seeing the deranged look in Chevy's eyes, that Brody knew Chevy had completely lost his mind. No one in Franklin was safe as long as Chevy was in his beserk state. It was then Brody realized what kind of monster he had become when he became Hit Man.
Smartz rode on a chariot of armaments that blasted at all of the surrounding buildings. The destruction she caused matched the large black twin barreled tank behemoth that pulled her forward. The massive blasts that came from Smartz's chariot and the two gigantic shells that came from from the massive tank sent shivers down the other E-vs' spine. They cowered in the wreckage of the buildings. Their scared eyes caused a great rift to appear in Chevy's heart. He hated to see fear in his peoples' eyes. This caused a great anger in him.
He leaped forward and slashed the tank's extra strong exterior and left gashes in the black exoskelton as if he slashed through butter. Smartz stood amazed on top of her chariot as she clapped her hands, taunting Chevy. This also caused immense anger to fume in his feral heart. He carved into the black tank until it was shreds of its former glory. Brody stood in shock with his hands on Chevy's mother's shoulders. "This has to stop." He patted her shoulders and wisped in front of Chevy's frontal assault and his intended target, Smartz.
With his alluminated hand on Chevy's scaly chest and his shadowy dark hand on the armored chariot, he created a barrier between the two opposing forces. With one hand, he healed the hurt in Chevy's heart. A bright beamed from inside of him, rivaling the marvel of the moon. When the light dimmed, Chevy's face was revealed. He had a calm on his face, almost as if he was at peace with everything around him. His devilish facade faded as his familiar exited out of his back, taking a pair of wings with it and leaving behind a pair of wings and a tattoo of a dangerous Oni on his tense back muscles. Brody smiled. "I knew there was more good in you than evil." The thought had comforted him and gave him hope that maybe there was still good in the world.
On the other hand, ripples of dark force reverberated through the giant chariot Smartz stood on. She was smart enough to know what came next. She jumped up into the air and her Smart Suit changed into a beautiful suit made completely of uncharted constellations. Her eyes were as bright as stars as she watched her chariot's destruction. Yet anger did not boil in her soul. She smiled, revealing her milky way white teeth. She hovered above them and with her mind, ordered for a few of the soldiers under her command to attack Brody and Chevy. One of the soldiers, one who was equipped with one rocket launcher arm and one Gatling gun arm, shot at the oblivious Chevy while he was in a suspended state of peace. The shells from the Gatling gun whizzed past Chevy's body. Brody turned around with evil eyes to face the soldiers who attacked his friend. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Once again, everything went black for Brody. His pupils underwent a grotesque change, transforming from his dark beautiful brown eyes to evil black pupils surrounded by a demonic red iris. The soldiers knew then that malicious things were about to come over them. If only they knew, they would much rather have a conversation with Satan than utter a word to Brody. His entire body shook with dark energy as his dark arm started to electrify over his entire body. Soon the dark energy cocooned over his entire body until the dark kinectic energy gave Brody the appearance of a monster one could only imagine in the deepest and darkest of nightmares. Evil had came from the depths of hell to visit the small town of Franklin in the form of Brody.
Brody had released Chevy from his heavenly grip and quickly descended toward the soldiers with his dark claws extended ready to taste the blood of his enemies. He slashed through the soldier with armaments on its arms and ripped it into pieces as Brody's great horns touched the sky while he roared a roar that shook the entire town. The rest of the soldiers only stood for a second before they themselves me a beautiful death.
Chevy looked at Smartz smiling in the background with a look of satisfaction on her face. He knew something had been wrong and while searching the skies for answers, him and Wiz Kid locked eyes. While they were both on the same page, different pictures. As Brody massacred the soldiers on the battlefield, Wiz Kid watched the inner anger express itself with every gash, every wound the demon inside of Brody inflicted. It was like watching Superman slaughter the innocence of Metropolis. Limbs, severed heads, snouts, and all kind of various body parts served as rocks in a river of blood. It was a disgusting sight for Wiz Kid and he knew he had a responsibility to stop Brody while he still had a chance. No matter how much evil the rest of the population of Franklin saw, Wiz Kid knew there was still some good inside of Brody's soul.
Chevy hovered a few feet above the battle scene and watched serenely as his friend created his very own genocide. He knew this much anger hadn't been inside of him before. The world had corrupted him, turned a tender, warm boy into a cold blooded man. He looked at Smartz, who hovered around the same level as Chevy, and stared into her suit of infinite space. In those stars he saw the faces of Brody's father, his strong masculine face staring deep into his soul, analyzing his body language, criticizing him, demeaning him, and he was caught aback. His wings flapped and took him only a couple of inches back. He stared at Bailey's face apologetic face, a face that aside from her honey complexion, looked exactly like her father's. Tears dropped from her soft eagle eyes and the only thing Chevy wanted to do was wipe the tears from her eyes just as he had always done. When he slowly flew in closer to the mirage of his love, her face became a scowl. Fangs exited out of her mouth and her eyes became a dangerous hue of red among the stars in Smartz's Smart Suit. Chevy realized the trickery now. Then he saw his brother's face among the cellestial body of Smartz. He saw Q smiling back at him and this gave him a sense of inert hope. It was a hope that was always there, he just never saw it until he closed his eyes and looked deep inside of himself.
When he opened his eyes his wings were gone, but a beautiful blade held by those same angel wings rested in his palm. He knew what his purpose in the world was when he saw the beautiful golden hilt, the large white wings, and the pristine metal that jetted from the wings. He knew he was a knight, a modern day paladin of the sorts, and that corruption was not going to be tolerated. That's the last thought that fired between his synapses before he lunged toward the space that was Smartz.
Kylie sprinted on top of the rooftops as Gun Shadow. The wind became a part of her as her surroundings proved to be no match for her agility as she flipped from one building to the next until she was at the scene of the massacre. What she saw stopped her in her tracks. "Not like this." She thought to herself, shaking her head. "Not like this." The depression sunk in as black mascara colored tears fell from her eyes. She gripped her blade and watched her sister pull up on the scene on her black, bulky bike. A true urban cowgirl. Her long golden brown hair flowed in the wind, the moonlight picking up her shimmering wheat colored locks. She looked at the trail of blood seeping on the tires of her bike with a great sadness and a deep introspection. "Brody. You can't be a monster. Not like this. This isn't supposed to be in you."
Gun Shadow leaped to her sister's side, stomping in that same red river her sister's tires were leaving tread marks. Her dark eyes surveyed her bleak, muderous surroundings and as Wiz Kid descended toward them, Gun Shadow thought the blood sprayed grafitti walls and the limb filled streets came from a scene of madness. She faced Wiz Kid, looking deep into his metallic brown eyes, and she asked with a face filled with conviction, "What is happening here?"
Wiz Kid shook his head. "I don't know. Chevy went crazy after they killed Q and he went after Smartz, so Brody stepped in to calm him down. Then they shot at him and then it began."
Wiz Kid looked at the desolate situation around him. Gun Shadow and Bonnie Bad Azz looked around and Gun Shadow spotted two beings fighting high above them. She pointed and asked Wiz Kid, "Who is that?"
"That's Smartz and Chevy."
Gun Shadow's eyes got big as she saw the two dueling as though the battle were their last. Chevy's war cry caused Bonnie Bad Azz to shutter. Gun Shadow wasted no time in joining the battle happening above her. Bonnie screamed after her sister but she discovered she was too late. The wind had already carried her to her destiny.
Wiz Kid grabbed Bonnie back and screamed, "There's nothing we can do now! We have to stop Brody!" He looked around as all of the soldiers seemed to be gone, replaced with a trail of blood and limbs. Brody sucked in air heavily as blood coated his mouth and his veracious teeth. The slow, dark red fluid dripped off of his teeth. It gave Brody the appearance of a demon.
Wiz Kid looked around and noticed that only the innocence remained. The soldiers had been decimated. Utterly destroyed. But Wiz Kid saw the hunger in Brody's eyes. He knew his bloodlust was far from satisfied. "We have to stop Brody."
Bonnie was confused. "Why?"
"Because he's not through. Not yet."
She looked back at him, still not understanding what he meant. It wasn't until Wiz Kid threw her to the side and ran in Brody's direction that she knew something had been really wrong.
Brody had found other targets in the form of a cowering family. Chevy's mother looked upon the demonic Brody and she ran in his direction. She had already lost one son to evil, and she would be damned if her other son was going to become a demon. "Brody!" She screamed. "Brody stop!"
Brody's breathing was deep and scary as his dark eyes peered on the mother cradling her two young girls. He didn't care how pretty the little girls were or how beautiful their mother was. All Brody saw was prey, and his belly rumbled with the potential of a fulfilling meal.
Bonnie Bad Azz knew then that her best friend had finally gone insane. She jumped on her bike and revved it up to its maximum speed. The velocity at which she traveled was so great that she passed Wiz Kid and swerved in front of the feral Brody. The blood on the bike's tires sprayed on the family as the rubber on her tires burned with the sudden stop. "Brody, stop."
His breath was steady as Wiz Kid floated behind the monster. Brody's dark eyes looked at the teary eyed Bonnie and a strange feeling overcame the monster. "Brody....no." The monster just continued to breath slow and steady. She reached for the black hair on his face as Chevy's mother ran to Wiz Kid's side. She stepped in front of Wiz Kid and placed a comforting hand on his large muscular shoulder. Bonnie ran her fingers through the hair on Brody's muscular snout as she spoke to him softly. "Brody. This isn't you. I know there is alot of anger brewing inside of you baby, but you can't let that control you. Not you, Brody. We need you. The real you and even though the madness is apart of you, it isn't you. So don't let it make you any less of a hero."
Wiz Kid appeared beside Bonnie and placed his hand on Brody's broad shoulders. He smiled and looked up into his idol's eyes. "Yeah man. You're my hero bro. You keep it real and you helped a lot of people. You're a hero no matter how much you try to run from that fact." He smiled brightly as the hatred in Brody's soul started to dwindle. A light similar to the one that cocooned over Chevy moments ago now cocooned over Brody.
"Yeah dog. You the man." A far away voice came from the horizon. His stride was cocky. His confidence poured out of his eyes. He looked upon all of them as equals. All of them except Brody. His eyes fell upon the light the engulfed Brody's entire body. The sheer power of the bright light blinded Nic but yet he just couldn't turn away. He was entranced. He held out his hands in a welcoming manner. "You the light in our darkness, cuz."
And with that, Brody revealed himself to be completely immaculate with his creme suit and black undershirts and tie completely tailored. Every wrinkle and every fold on his suit complemented him. His light mustache was perfectly groomed as well as the peachfuzz on his chin. His eyebrows were plucked to perfection. His haircut was low and wavy. He was perfection. He looked at the back of his hands and saw the word "Good v." on his left hand and "s. Evil" on his right hand. He lifted his hands in front of his face and he realized then and there that there was an eternal struggle of good and evil brewing inside of him. He had to surpress the evil inside of him in order to keep a balance. As his good nature could become influencing, his bad side could be chaotic, and he knew the world without his evil nature was a safer world.
He looked in Chevy's mother's eyes with tears strolling down his face. The revelation he had reached was amazing. The plateau of understanding he was on was astounding. Kayla smiled. So did Wiz Kid. Nic patted Brody on his shoulder. Brody looked up at all of his friends and his adoptive mother and he smiled large. Then he looked up and saw Chevy and Gun Shadow battling against Smartz and her scythe that appeared to have a mind of its own.
She looked as though she wasn't even breaking a sweat as she dodged the blades and manipulated her scythe with her mind and her finger. Gun Shadow appeared and reappeared through the night, putting all of her anger and hatred for Smartz behind the driving force of her blade. But to no avail as Smartz simply moved just as fast if not faster than both of them. They couldn't fathom the surge of power that occurred in her. She was like nothing they had ever seen. She was almost as powerful as a deity.
She continued to manipulate the scythe with only her finger and telekenisis controlling the starry scythe. Gun Shadow and Chevy weaved in and out of one another, striking with every ounce of power they had. Brody looked upon the battle and instantly knew what he had to do.
Wiz Kid, Bonnie Bad Azz, Chevy's mother, and Nic all drew their hope from him. They looked upon him as all of their hands touched him. Some how they felt connected with him. His body was warm to the touch. He was inspiration personified. Then their fingers were cold again. The feel of his suit was gone. The warmth disappeared as Brody had done. They collectively looked above their heads and saw that Brody had both of his hands hovering above Smartz's chest, trapping her in a light brighter than the inner core of the sun. It was stifling.
Gun Shadow and Chevy were sent backwards by the sheer force of the light. They shielded their eyes to protect from the immense light. When the light dimmed, it revealed an unconscious Smartz, angelic and serene, resting in Brody's strong arms. They looked at him as though he were foreign. They never seen Brody so immaculately dressed either. He really did look like usher to Heaven, a messenger of hope. Gun Shadow, unable to support herself in the air any longer, watched Brody floating in the air carrying Smartz's body.
A sense of hurt filled her heart. She didn't like the sight of Brody carrying another, unconcious or not. But when his head turned and his stare caught her sqaure in the eyes, she knew her place was cemented in his heart.
He descended down to her level and she rushed toward him screaming, "Brody!!!", with tears gushing from her eyes. He placed a bright, glowing energy coccoon over Smartz's body and, with his mind, placed her down on the brick roof. Gun Shadow had jumped in Brody's arms soon afterwards. It felt as though she could build a home against his chest. "Brody, I thought you were gone. You left me again."
Brody smiled and closed his eyes. "I come when I'm needed love. I sensed urgency here and I knew it was time to make an appearance."
She looked deep into his sharp, determined brown eyes with her hurt, glazed over pupils and she asked softly, "Is that the only reason why you came back, Brody?"
His soft voice oozed confidence as he answered truthfully, "Yes."
"So you didn't come back for us, Brody? You didn't come here for me?" Her soft hurt voice filled Brody's ears as Chevy walked slowly behind him, he too awaiting for the answer.
Brody knew this question would come. Pain quickly struck his heart. He thought of the people he had left. His best friends. His family. Even from the tall building, he could see the faces of Wiz Kid, Nic, Bonnie Bad Azz, and Chevy's mother. He knew Chevy was behind him. It would have hurt him too much to see the expression on Chevy's face. But he knew to run from a problem was just as useless as running away from the wind. No matter how fast you were, the wind, just like problems, would always catch up. "Honestly..." He answered relunctantly. He licked his lips as if he were trying to trap the remaining words inside of his mouth. ".....in my travels I have discovered that I attract trouble. Everywhere I go, someone I know, someone I love dies. First my pa, my sister, my uncle, Brittany..." A tear escaped his eye as he tried to look away, hoping he would be able to hide his pain. To no avail, his pain only proved that he was still human. Chevy shared a tear with his brother. The loss of Q was a big blow to them all. "....Q, and....I just can't lose anymore of y'all. So in order to make sure you are protected love, I keep my distance." He saw the rebellious look in her eyes and in a deep introspection, he continued. "I see that look in your eyes, but let me keep it real. It's easier to be secluded knowing that y'all safe than being surrounded by y'all feeling like death is around the corner. I don't think I would be strong enough to have that fact on my conscious."
She looked into his eyes with a silent anger. He couldn't have no idea how angry she truly was until she spoke. "You talking like a coward now, Brody."
"Whoa..." Brody said calmly and cautiously.
Gun Shadow interjected angrily. "No, Brody! Why are you even still here!? Yo' job done as far as we're concerned. You stopped Smartz, you killed all of the soldiers that was trying to siege through Franklin, shouldn't be anything else you need to do, right? Why are you even still here!?"
Brody shook his head, disappointed in how furious Gun Shadow had become. He quickly disregarded her piss poor attitude as ignorance. He knew that she was disguising her pain behind harsh words. He simply gave her a smirk that simply said, "If you only knew."
He turned his head to face the horizon. He knew something that everybody else on his side was oblivious to. He felt a sudden surge of evil power come from the horizon and he knew that the battle of their life was coming. He knew that every one of them was about to come face to face with their worse fears. He turned his head and with the corners of his eyes, he peered back into Gun Shadow's angry eyes, "Sorry Kylie, but my job is far from done."
Even though his message was cryptic, Chevy and Gun Shadow knew that more trouble lie ahead. It was then Brody took a plunge off of the four story building and landed in front of Nic with his fists clenched and his eyes staring straight into the descending sun. The atomosphere around them looked as though they were going to dine in hell.
Chevy walked to the edge of the roof and saw the immaculate Brody standing in the front, an inert warrior bloomed from his soul as he looked back at the confused Gun Shadow. "You ready?"
The question was simple. She gripped her blade and ran toward the edge. No answer was needed.
As she dove off of the roof, Chevy took a plunge at the same time as she did. The drop was quick as they landed in their respective places by Brody's side. Both Chevy and Gun Shadow gripped their swords as Brody clenched his fists ready to do battle with an unseen and unknown evil. Brody hoped that they were ready to face the evil that was coming over the horizon in the form of four dark silhouettes.

Conspiracy: Crawling In The Dark

The air was frigid on the moon as the space wind picked up the loose rock by their feet. There was silence in the air. Dead silence.
Wiz Kid lowered the titanium casket into the already dug plot with his telekinetic power. Tears started to freeze on Wiz Kid's already cold cheeks. Kylie, Kayla, Nic, and Chevy watched from afar, assisted by the breathing masks coverting energy into air. Both Kylie and Kayla stood, present and proud, in their Evolved forms of Gun Shadow and Bonnie Bad Azz. Bonnie's cold fingers gripped her famous revolvers as Gun Shadow gripped her large blade. Both of their hearts went out to Wiz Kid. Both knowing the pain of recent losses, they knew there was no antidote to the pain. They knew their place was right there supporting their longtime friend. They heard his tears. They seen his pain. They felt their heart breaking right alongside Wiz Kid's.
Chevy shook his head. "This isn't right." He continued to shake his head as he looked in Nic's direction to see he was doing the exact same thing. Their eyes made contact and they both felt as though their thoughts were symetrical. Nic nodded and Chevy returned his head nod with one of his own, and they both stepped toward the lonely Wiz Kid's direction. Wiz Kid had been using the cool metal of his Evolved form to wipe the frigid tears from off of his face. The back of his hand looked as though they were littered with diamonds and pixie dust. Nic came behind him and placed a compassionate hand on Wiz Kid's shoulder. "Wassup, cuz?"
Chevy came from the other side and held his hand out. Wiz Kid grasped his hand tightly and sucked in his lips to avoid shedding anymore tears. Wiz Kid continued to shake his head as trying to stop the floodgates of tears that were built up in his eyes was an exercise in futility. His cries constricted the chords in his throat as he struggled to ask, "Did y'all know that I promised her that one day I was going to build a personal rocketship for just the two of us and that we were going to take a trip to the moon." They nodded their heads just providing Wiz Kid with a couple of ears to talk into. Tears continued to roll down his face as he continued to give his last words to Brittney through Nic and Chevy. "Now that we are here, I feel more lonely than ever because I know she supposed to be here. She supposed to be here right next to me, laughing, smiling." He looked down as the robots he teleported into space with him fill the grave up with the space rubble, burying his love in the moonlight. "She supposed to be right here and it's my fault."
Misery filled sobs came out of Wiz Kid unexpectedly as he tried to drop to his knees. But Nic and Chevy were right there to catch him before he fell to the ground. Kylie and Kayla ran to his side as he nearly collapsed onto the ground. They all surrounded him with love, all of them lifting him up off of the ground. They each wanted him to know that if he were to ever fall, they would be his crutches. "I just wish she was here, Chevy. Maybe I wouldn't feel so alone."
Then, out of nowhere, a familiar voice came from just beyond them. Kylie's eyes grew to the size of pineapples as she looked upon the dark figure that was walking toward them. She thought that she had seen a mirage. It wasn't until she guaged Chevy's reaction and the expression on Kayla's face had let her know that they had seen the same person walking toward them that she had seen. "You will never be alone." An immaculate Brody strode toward them adorned in an all white suit with a lit blunt in his mouth. They all stared at him as though they witnessed a miracle happen. They didn't know how he was breathing on the surface of the moon, much less how he was smoking, but none of them cared either. They could easily see that he had transcended beyond the normal powers of an E-v. He was no longer simply an E-v. He was a statue, an idol, a god in their eyes, and it could be seen all in their expression. They just gawked at him as he smiled and continued in his deep voice. He walked toward the grave and stared at the beautiful tombstone that gave testament to Brittney's legacy. "As long as you have her in your heart, Wiz, she will live forever through you, through us." He continued to engrave the memory of her tombstone into his brain, memorizing every detail. "The woman in the moon. Our very own angel flying under the guise of the moonlight."
Kylie couldn't take it anymore as she broke free from the rest of the group. Her screams were young, toddler-esque, as she cried out for Brody. "Brodyyyyyyy!!!!!!" She broke out into a full run and jumped directly into his arms. She found comfort in the smoothness of the Eygyptian cotton blazer he had on. Her tears found their proper place on the breast of his jacket. He instinctively stroked her long, dark hair, admiring how it shimmered in the moonlight. His stare into outerspace was deep and introspective. Chevy was the only one to notice. It was almost as if he saw something that no one else saw. Like he knew something no one else knew. And then he smiled, drawing Kylie closer to him. She squeezed his lean, muscular body as tears continued to stream down her beautiful face. "Why did you leave us, Brody? Why did you make me worry like that? I thought you were gone, Brody. I thought you were dead."
He just shook his head. "I'm here, baby." He continued to stroke her dark hair, his fingers finding refuge in her black locks. "I'm sorry that I caused you so much worry and anguish, but I had to go." He took his emotionless eyes and stared back out into space. "I just had to leave."
She looked up at him, eyes searching for a purpose as though it would be written on his face. But the answer would never come simply. Not when it's Brody the enigma. "But why, Brody? Why did you have to go?" He looked at the tombstone sticking out of the moon and saw the hurt on Wiz Kid's face. Kylie noticed how his confident expression changed and she instantly knew the real reason why he had disappeared. "Are you scared?" He peered down on her. If there was anything he hated more was to have somebody think he wasn't fearless. It made him feel vulnerable. It made him feel weak. She looked at him with her dark, teary eyes and spoke with her softest voice. "I understand." She buried her face into his soft jacket. "But you don't have to be afraid anymore, Brody."
He looked at Wiz Kid's expression only to discover he was scared. For the first time in a long time he was afraid of something, but not of any more of his friends passing. More because he never wanted to ever wear the expression Wiz Kid wore. But his cool, confident demeanor would not ever allow his true feelings to show. Even though he wasn't present, he knew he still held great influence over his team. He knew he couldn't waiver their confidence. So he did the only thing he could do. He lied. "I'm not afraid. Not anymore."
Her voice was as soft as a hummingbird's whisper. "Then why, Brody? Why aren't you still with us?"
He smiled and looked down into her eyes while he stroked her soft facial skin. "Because I have found a place where I could really do some good. And as a man with power, I feel I have some responsibility to help these people, my people. I have cousins where I'm at. Family. I can't turn my back on that."
She just looked up into his deceiving eyes. She knew he had not been completely truthful with her. "Is that the real reason?" She asked in a voice reminescent of a heartbroken investigative reporter. She soon became determined to find out the real reason behind Brody's disappearance.
He looked down in her eyes and pulled her tightly into an intimate embrace. His lips were soon mere centimeters away from her ear and his whispers held a smooth, sensual twang to them. "The real reason I left was because I never wanted to wear the expression Wiz Kid wore. I never want to see y'all hurt, knowing it was my fault. I would be driven to complete madness if I lost any one of y'all. My heart can't take no more people leaving me. I just can't."
She moved out of his embrace and gently cusped his face with both hands. "But Brody, that's what I'm trying to tell you. They aren't looking for you anymore. They're hunting us. They are going after us hard and we're scared, Brody. We need you to be with us. We need you to watch our back, just as you always done. We need you, Brody." She looked deep into his eyes and continued, "I need you."
Her hands were cold on his bare face. For the first she realized that Brody was the only one of them who was breathing unassisted. Just then, she realized how special he truly was. His eyes were dark and piercing as he seemed as though he were staring directly into her essence. But the brilliance of his light smile brought out a happiness over her. But his words quickly dispelled any smile she had on her heart. "Baby, you don't need me, I need you." He placed his hands on her face as their arms interlocked with one another. His voice was soft as his words travelled into her ear. "I need you guys to stay alive and grow and be fruitful without me. I can't be around you guys right now, because I'm needed somewhere else. Nashville needs you guys. Not me. I know you guys can handle my lightweight."
She shook her head. "Why are you trying to leave us, Brody? I don't understand and all I hear is excuses. You are saying you need us. Well how you gonna need us and then not be around anymore?"
He simply shook his head. "I'm sorry, love..." He smirked, trying to quell her sadness. "I don't mean for it to sound like I'm making excuses, but..." He just shook his head as he began disappear in her grasp. "I'm sorry, Kylie." Two tears streamed off of his face and found their place on the moon rocks. And those tears were the only evidence of his being there. All of a sudden, Kylie felt the same pain in her heart as Wiz Kid and her tears were her way of showing her relateability to Wiz Kid.
Back in California, Brody found himself standing back in the middle of a shootout happening on his baby cousin's street. He turned his head slowly, observing the Isyss fight amongst one another. Tribe versus tribe as it seemed like an endless amount of bullets poured out into the street. Brody looked around and saw the mothers cradling their babies, teenagers finding refuge, and old people screaming on top of their lungs as the Isyss carried out their battle in a Spartan like manner. Then he saw Lil' Wo cowering behind an old school SUV, the veins beside her eyes pumping the new images she was capturing. The gunshots soon became inaudibe as he concentrated on the need to protect his baby cousin. Then he saw an array of bullets slow his way. In his mind, he slowed down time as the bullets bursted toward him. He stared at the small spike tips in front of the bullets. The little hollow core inside of the spikes made Brody picture the image of Death's pupils staring into his soul, ready to make the decision of whether he lives or dies. Only Brody decided that he would no longer adhere to the rules of death.
He simply blew a breath toward the many bullets that came toward him and the bullets just shuddered away, vaporizing in the air of his power. Time moved even slower as Lil' Wo watched an extreme display of power her older cousin was performing. She was so entranced by what seemed like nothing less than divine intervention that she didn't even notice the bullets coming toward her. Brody turned his head toward his cousin, and his smiling expression turned into a look of horror when he saw the bullets' angry snouts ready to taste human flesh. He immediately broke out into a run that sent shockwaves across the ground. The sheer force of his steps sent tremors into the ground. Even at his velocity he was still a second late.
Three bullets entered hungrily into her body, one in the lung, one in the chest, and one in the heart. Her entire expression changed from hope into death as those same vein surrounded eyes stared back at Brody, lifeless. He watched as her body fell to the ground in horror, those eyes whom not a moment ago stared back at him in the form of a bullet. It was those same eyes he denied his soul. And it was at that moment the true meaning of the Southern California motto. Tomorrow's never promised.
He dropped to his knees and scrambled to try and catch her before she fell to the ground. He barely caught her and quickly lifted her up in hopes to prevent her from drowning in her own blood. He coughed the blood from out of her mouth in what could have been the most graphic scene of his life. Up until that moment, life was nothing more than a videogame. Now it was real. The decisions he made effected more than just himself now. Tears fell from his eyes as he watched his baby cousin die in his arms. The last expression on her face was a smile. She was happy to die in the arms of a man that meant so much to her. Brody screamed as the bullets that attempted to strike him simply materialized out of existence. This was the last straw. As he screamed, a large vein grew on his Adam's Apple and his right eye turned completely white aside from the black shadow that grew large in the corners of his eyes. Then the clouds came. Then the darkness with the last visible thing was a set of demonic white eyes and a vicious set of teeth. When it roared, the sound of gunfire was muted, replaced by screams. And then came the black.
When the light of day began to peer through the black and shine through the clouds, nothing less of a genocide was revealed with Brody standing near the edge of the street with a black, sharp fiery sword in his left hand. His grip on the flame could've only bearable because of the black rock exoskeleton that surrounded his entire arm. The bright yellow circuitry that ran through his arm was made dim by the sun but it did not reduce the intimdation factor. His look was menacing as he looked as though he were in the beginning stages of becoming a werewolf. His white eyes peering into the dead. He turned on his heel to look at his cousin's smile one last time. Only when he looked at her still expression, he could only see pain. Lost were her magical facial features, replaced by grieving pain. Even in death, she knew Brody had commited horrors that were unexplainable. Guilt settled over him as the once ferocious razor sharp scowl relaxed to his beautifully somber face. His eyes closed as the rock exoskeleton fell from his arm. He walked over to her body and stared at her while he stood over her, and softly whispered, "I'll make you proud of me Wo." His tears hit the ground as he disappeared once more before the sounds of the police sirens reached him.

Conspiracy

A few days later back in Nashville, Smartz was patrolling on the rooftops in a shell that perfectly masked her Hispanic roots. Under the pale moonlight, she stood in a cat leather suit with long flowing locks of dark hair that caught the moonlight's shimmer and skin that was only a little bit darker than the complexion of milk. She looked as though she were standing at the edge of the earth and the view was staggering.
As she stood on the lonely rooftop, she felt the pressures of being in a role of leadership. She was now known as the experienced brains of the operation and she didn't know if she was truly ready to take on the daunting task of leading such a young group of men and women with the potential to do something legendary. She didn't have the same natural leadership abilities as Brody had or the same confidence as her best friend, Angel, and she wondered if intelligence would be enough to lead a group of people who already seem like they despise and distrust her.
She ran on those rooftops, leaping from one tall building to another with the same question pumping through her head. "Am I good enough?"
The wind she ran through was chilling but brisk enough to wake her up from another reality. It felt as though it were cutting away at her exposed smooth face, but she would not let the cutting wind damage her calm or resolute as she fought to find answers to questions she could not herself answer. She jumped into what seemed like an endless vortex of stars and spreaded her arms, embracing the freedom her intelligence built. The Smart Suit. One of her greatests inventions.
Just then a dark, masked figure shattered her calm as he tackled her into an adjacent office building. They both fell into a nearby set of cubicles, both made visible by the bright flourescent lights. They rolled and tussled for a few seconds before both of them regained their footing.
Smartz stood up first, be it a flow rise. She watched her opponent rise not much after she had. Like her, the dark figure was also masked, but unlike her, the masked figure only had his eyes and his nose covered and she could clearly see that the masked man was white. But a well built white man he was as she watched his muscles rise right along with him.
The man's massive build matched the fear building in her heart. His wingspan seemed to cover the entire room as the shadowy cloth on his back manipulated and covered the flourescent lights.
She followed the rise of the large shadowy figure and clenched her fists, ready to do battle with the impossible. Her eyebrows burrowed into an annoyed scowl as she peered into the shadow. No matter the fear that bubbled and boiled inside of her, she still knew she had to fight. It was then she had her epiphany. If she survived, she had to prepare her small troupe to battle an army of people that hated their kind. If she survived. If she didn't, she had to at least make sure she left behind a dent in the dark army, starting with this large shadow in front of her.
She sized the shadow up in what seemed like milliseconds and then she did the unexpected, at least for her. She charged fist first into the Shadow Man, declaring the first hit on the shadow.
His dark cloak had enveloped her as it seemed like she passed through an ethereal darkness. She swung wildly but it seemed as though she was fighting against a void oc nonexistence.
The sharp black corners of the Shadow Man's cloak engulfed her adage continued to fight off the temptation to succomb to the darkness with her fists, but she soon found that this was an exercise of futility. The corners attacked at an alarming rate and the light that was emitting from the flourescent lights soon became nothing but black. Her screams were inhuman, but in the chaotic city that was Nashville, her screams were unnoticed. They only fell on deaf ears as she was swallowed whole by the blackness, the conspiracy that was Shadow Man.

Stranger In A Strange Land Pt. 2

In Compton, CA, Brody walked on the sidewalk with his head low to the ground, wondering in his mind if this was his day to die. He could feel the stares of the natives bearing down on his back. It had seemed like forever since he had seen his distant relatives and walking down the street made him realize exactly how long he had been gone. He felt as though he was a mystery.
As he walked down the sidewalk, he felt as though death had been walking right alongside of him. Then he walked in front of a white house where his distant cousin had been standing smoking a blunt of California's finest. He saw first hand how medicinal marijuana had truly been. The dark blue veins of the struggle appeared all over her face but were most dominant around her eyes. The veins in her face spreaded close to her eyes, reminding Brody of a spider web. Her eyes held a hint of sadness burrowed deep into her dark brown eyes. He related to the pain in her eyes. He felt that same pain in his heart. "Wassup, Wo?"
Lil' Wo blew smoke into the air and shook her head. "Wassup Bro Bro." The sun rays made her eyes a focal point on her face as she looked up into her older cousin's eyes. "What you doing cousin?"
He smiled and pointed at the marijuana she had in her hand. "Trying to hit that scrill you got in yo' hand, right there." She laughed and passed him the blunt. He quickly received the blunt from her and took a hit of the potent marijuana. He coughed twice, giving evidence of the quality of weed he had in his hand. Having been the avid weed smoker since he was sixteen, Brody had the tendency to only cough when the weed was really strong. He looked at the blunt as though he were surprised by the potency of the marijuana. Lil' Wo simply laughed. As he was regaining his breath, Brody choked out a few words. "Walk wit' me real quick," to be exact.
Without hesitation, they walked on that long street ahead of them, away from a few members of the Isyss tribe and on to the street that housed a few school children that were the same age as his younger cousin. He looked at the kids playing in the street with envy. "If only I knew that kind of innocence again."
Then he saw his other cousin, Lil' Wo's older cousin Juice Mane, pass by an old model maroon Ford. She threw up three fingers as she waved to them. Lil' Wo threw up three fingers in the air as a form of response while Brody simply raised the blunt in the air as a form of greeting toward his cousin. She shook her head and continued on toward her destination.
Brody shook his head and asked Lil' Wo, "Man, don't you wish you could look at life like Juice Mane?"
She looked af Brody with a confused expression. "What you mean?"
"I mean look at her though. She don't smoke weed, she don't drink, she just work hard, and be about her paper."
"So? I be about this too, Bro Bro...."
"Yeah I know you be about yo' business, ya' heard me, but I'm saying you smoke weed though..."
".....What's your point!?" Lil' Wo asked with a hint of anger in her voice.
"I'm saying..." Brody answered quickly trying to backpedal through his statement. The scenery around him became a lot more real when he realized how quickly Californians lost their temper. He didn't like the way a few of the female Isyss stared at him. Their blue eyes gave Brody knowledge to how far in rank they were. "....obviously, I smoke too, but check me out though."
They continued to walk past the run down projects where large groups of Hispanics lived. Brody saw the wolf in their Aztec spirits ready to emerge from their faces. Their deep brown eyes gave way to a pain of the struggle they endured everyday in Compton, CA. Brody knew then that he had stepped into a warzone where nobody was winning and everybody was losing. He threw his head up out of respect to a tall, dark skinned Hispanic male with a buzz cut and a psychotic scowl. The Hispanic male threw his head slightly, but his piercing dark eyes followed Brody as he and Lil' Wo continued on their path to the store.
Oblivious to his surroundings, Brody continued to make his point to his younger cousin. "I couldn't imagine not smoking weed everyday." He licked his lips and continued as they cut through the park that was affectionately known as The Battlefield. A large group of Isyss watched Lil' Wo and Brody walk into the sun hungrily. It was known that Compton didn't like tourists. If you wasn't from there and you didn't have family there, it wasn't safe there. Period. "But it's not because I'm addicted to it. That would be impossible. I have to smoke weed because my reality is so....you know? Everywhere I go, people die. First my ma...." He took another hit from the blunt and threw it down on the grass. "Then my pa, my sister, then my uncle, but I was coping because of the fact that I felt as though I had a mission to accomplish." The dry grass crunched under Brody's light steps. No matter how much he tried to walk silently, he was still heard. No matter how inconspicuous he tried to be, he was still seen, but more importantly, he was still noticed. "But when all them people died, something inside of me changed. I feel responsible. I feel guilty because they were all there to see me, and they lost their lives with me being the last thing they saw or heard and it's not right man. My brother was telling me about it and I couldn't help but be like damn I did all that, but the scariest thing that could have ever happened to me happened yesterday."
They walked into the gas station where a muscular man was working. Brody asked for two single Black & Milds and two Swisher Sweets and quickly paid the gas attendee. He didn't want to be in there no longer than he had to. When he walked out of the gas station, he quickly lit the cigar, inhaled the smoke and looked toward the sun lit sky. The sun kissed his face so beautifully, but the only person who noticed was his cousin. A question burned inside of her head that couldn't be held in any longer. "So what happened?"
He took another pull of the cigar smoke and answered without even looking in her direction. "What you talking about homie?"
"What happened yesterday? Matter of fact, how did you even get here? Nana said she was shocked to see you, so I know she didn't know you was coming. Why the big surprise, Bro Bro?"
He blew the smoke outward as he sighed deeply. "I almost killed my brother yesterday."
"How?" She asked forgetting all about her own surroundings as she continued to keep pace with her cousin, listening to every word.
He told her the story of how he was performing at the Rock-A-Poolaza, how he blacked out, how he came to in Wiz Kid's laboratory, and how he almost destroyed the whole complex without so much as a thought. She just listened as they walked back to her grandmother's house. The surroundings didn't even matter as she listened. She caught herself thinking, "I wish he didn't have to go through that alone."
Lil' Wo, growing up in an abusive household often found shelter in her Bro Bro. His stories and his wisdom often inspired her. She didn't really understand until she received her Eyes of Wisdom. After seeing so much, the bleak environment she was brought up in had finally taken its toll on her physically, manifesting in the form of large veins potruding from her face around her beautiful light blue eyes. It was then she fully understood what her older cousin had been telling her. It was that day where she smoked her first blunt of marijuana to herself looking up at the California sun with a new outlook on life.
"Bro Bro can I tell you something?"
"Don't ask for permission..." He said while letting the marijuana smoke escape slowly from his mouth. "It makes me feel like I don't want to know what you are about to tell me. Never ask for permission, only ask for forgiveness."
She smiled. "That makes sense, Brody." She paused for a second while the question she wanted to ask the most formulated. "Well forgive me, Brody, but you do know that you never have to go through anything by yourself, right?"
They stopped in front of her grandmother's house and Brody turned around with a giant smile on his face. "Why do you think I came here?"
She smiled brightly as she looked up at her barely taller cousin. He passed the blunt back to his cousin while the bond between them was alluminated by the California sun.