• • Short Stories
• May 18, 2025

The Angel of Death (Part IV Finale)

“Well, if isn’t it hindsight and her bitch sister karma.” There’s a man leaning against the glass as he calls down the hall. He really does believe he’s cool, it’s the only reasonable explanation for why he poses like a greaser in a movie about the 60s, standing with his arms crossed, hanging his jacket over his shoulder.

“Excuse me?” Erica yells back, offended.

“He’s not talking to you,” I tell Erica, “Shadow Mask is talking to me and my Archangel.”

“What?” she questions as she looks up at me like I’m insane.

“Heh,” he chuckles through that gas mask of his. This asshole looks ridiculous, as always, he’s wearing the rest of a three piece suit and kevlar. 

“Is that a new gas mask?” I ask him as I pull out my handgun, and use Reload to summon the one Cap destroyed. No shotgun to start with, I’m gonna need to shoot fast and spray ‘n pray at the same time to get a bead on him. 

He moves to right the mask on his face as he lets his jacket fall to the ground. He pulls out his deadly pocket knife and handgun as he tells me, “It is new, I’m glad you noticed.” A pocket knife may not sound so bad, but let me assure you, no blade is pure steel in this line of work anymore. 

Erica looks between us as I manually reload my guns with tracer bullets, and use my powers to fix my M9.

Gun. 

While my reload power can repair the M9 Cap broke, it isn’t smart enough to change ammo types, and these bullets will tell me what he is when he shapeshifts.

Oh yeah, Shadow Mask is a shapeshifter.

“Are you guys gonna fight?” Erica asks, not understanding the situation in front of her.

“Yep,” I say.

“Oh yeah,” he agrees.

Before she can ask why, I tell her, “He wants what I want, what we want, and it’s easier to get it first if he kills us.”

“Bingo,” he says as he reloads his handgun with incendiary bullets. He always uses those on me. 

‘They fucking hurt,’ Azrael complains.

“But how can he kill us when he doesn’t know what he’s looking for? He needs us!” Erica is being logical, so her mistake is forgivable. She doesn’t know Shadow Mask like I’m sure many people do throughout the multiverse.

“He already knows thanks to you, kid,” I tell her as I aim my handguns at him. 

“What did I do?” she asks.

Shadow Mask answers for her, as he aims his gun in one hand and taps his skull with the other. “I’m a mind-reader girl, you already told me.” By the ‘o’ look on her face, I can tell she gets it.

He fires the first shot.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Or the first clip really.

I duck under the first few, being faster than his normal bullets, but he knows where to shoot. 

“Venatrix know how to keep her thoughts to herself, make me work for it, but you sure as hell don’t.”

A couple go towards Erica, and while Shadow Mask would definitely kill kids for enough money, he knows I’m protecting her. 

I duck and shield her as I’m hit with the incendiaries. They aren’t strong enough to pierce my skin with the power I’ve got, but the burn is in its own league of pain.

They start to sizzle too, which tells me they’re high-explosive incendiaries. I wonder what world he went to to get them for a handgun, sure as hell not mine. Or… maybe it was.

“Once I’m done with you two, I’ll get my prize from the basement.”

So that’s what he got from Erica, he knows what she thinks I’m looking for. Thank god, he hasn’t learned to pick up more than surface level thoughts.

In the time he takes to reload and run for me, I whisper into Erica’s ear, more because of the pain than to be quiet, “You need to run to the elevator… to the basement… I’ll cover you.”

“What?!” she screams right before I run to meet Shadow Mask.

I start blasting away to try and get him with a tracer. To dodge them, he tosses his knife and gun into the air as he shifts into a snake, his preferred form.

He slithers over oxygen, dodging my bullets before shifting back into his normal form.

Switch.

I switch my right handgun with the shotgun on my back just before he can finish.

Foompf.

His knife meets my gun and I catch his gun hand on the plating of the shotgun, leaving us face to face.

“Its been a while since our last dance,” he grunts out, his voice strained from trying to outmuscle me. 

‘He’s going to need a stronger form than that if he’s ever going win a contest of strength with me,’ Azrael says, adding a loud ‘hmph’ at the end.

Being a mind reader, Shadow Mask retorts, “Pretty sure I’m fighting Ve- ACK!”

I slam my leg into his side, shutting him up. When his form falters I whack him across the face with the shotgun’s metal plate, and yell back to Erica, “Erica, get-” but I’m interrupted by her running past me.

Clever girl.

I try to backhand Shadow Mask again but he blocks me this time.

“You know what your problem is,” I taunt as I kick him into the wall with a loud slam, “you talk too much,” and then aim the shotgun at his head. 

POOM!

He shifted into something microscopic and then back again to flip kick me in the shoulder. 

He plants his hands on the ground to grab his weapons and tells me, “You do too,” then tosses them forward as he turns into a larger boa constrictor.

Pump.

I pump the shotgun the only way I can when dual wielding and shoot for him as he slithers across the ground, knife in his mouth and gun at the end of his tail. 

Yeah, it’s as ridiculous to look at as it sounds.

BLAM!

Pump. 

BLAM!

I miss both shots as he moves faster than any snake should and defies gravity to wrap around my torso and flip me. 

Bang.

“Shit!” I curse as I hit my head on the ceiling, and then on the ground. I lift my head as I hear a snake hiss and see Shadow Mask slithering after Erica. “Shit!’ I curse again for whole different reason now. 

The energy boost I give myself is instantaneous to leap and catch up to Shadow Mask in an instant.

Switch.

Reload.

I get both handguns again and leap over him across the horribly short corridor, with my handguns pointed down…

…and then I shoot.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! 

Reload.

I shoot a lot.

Erica screams after she hits the elevator door button, seeing me as I freeze myself above Shadow Mask, laying entire magazines into him.

He’s doing the closest thing a snake can do to a shriek as he tries to avoid eating a bullet, and he doesn’t do well on that front. He’s at least scraped or full on shot by every bullet I fire.

Click.

Reload.

Shifsss!

I always know when Shadow Mask is turning into something big because it makes a loud noise.

Froom!

The force of him turning into a giant insectoid Dinoran and nearly punching me through the ceiling shakes the whole floor. I’m halfway through the drywall or whatever they put in ceilings with his fist still in my gut.

I grab his slow moving wrist and pop out my wings. 

Then I fly up and through the floor with him in tow.

Faster than he can finish shifting back into a man, I pull him into the air, over the city and above the tallest building in it. 

He aims his gun, but with my wings I’m far too fast for him. I blitz him as he hovers in the air and shoots at me, but its just the afterimage I leave as I move around him at light speed. 

He shoots three times before I blitz him from the front, and smash his gas mask in with my fist. 

POOM!

My fist causes a boom in the air pressure. It sounds like a louder version of my shotgun. I can barely hear the sound of the building’s roof collapsing as Shadow Mask flies through it and several floors. 

He’s gonna step it up a notch after that, and so should I. 

I charge up, but as I do I get this pain in my chest. I look down and see the other merc’s pocket knife just missing my heart. Shadow Mask is good, but this was just luck.

‘Don’t underestimate him.’

I’ve beaten him before.

‘He’s beaten you before too.’

He cheated.

Azrael sighs, so I pay her a personal middle finger by stepping it up a notch, and finishing what I started. 

I power up, and fly down through the building, knife in hand, wings out.

In a blink of an eye I fly through the roof, tearing it apart to get to Shadow Mask whose already on his feet. 

I come down and he barely rolls out of the way. I slam the knife into the ground, missing him and the force sends him rolling across the ground of another lab we’ve destroyed.

Shadow Mask flips to his feet, letting momentum carry him. The second he’s standing I say, “Catch!” and throw his knife straight for his head. The force I use is too strong for him to-

Shiftsss…

Snitch!

So he’s really cutting lose now. 

Shadow Mask transforms, and usually he doesn’t get the powers of someone he transforms into. If he tries to copy their powers to, there are bad side effects when he changes back. Any damage he takes is amplified, big risk for big reward. 

I can tell he’s ready to take that risk. He’s taken on the form and strength of someone who can catch a knife I throw. 

Shadow Mask moves the knife from her face, and shows off the tinted glasses and long white hair I know too well. “You know, I’ve always wanted to know which of you is stronger,” he says with Jetta’s voice.

“I am,” I say.

“Really?” she says, as she rolls hers shoulders and stretches to get used to the new level of strength. “Last time I checked, which is quite often, Jetta hosts Fenrir, Wolf God of Destruction, and you host Azrael, just another dumb Archangel.”

I take out my pistols and spin them in my hands as I walk towards him. I call upon the power of an Archangel even more, the power that can raze planets and make measly cities shake.

I finish powering up to the point before I have to transform, which I won’t do with Erica and the A-particle in the building. Even at the max of my base form, I can take Jetta.

Shadow Mask taunts me with my best friend’s face and voice, “You’re not as strong as you think, Ventrix,” and he uses Jetta’s speed to launch himself at me.

“No?” I ask as I block her punch.

 I lean forward and ask him in a harsh mutter, “Then why do you need the power of a god to fight me?”

I cross my arms and push him back, and aim one gun forward towards her head. I can think of a few reasons to enjoy shooting Jetta in the face.

BANG!

She barely dodges, and I shoot through her hair, which actually bleed because Shadow Mask doesn’t have hair as long as he’s her. Its his flesh that spreads out for the extra matter.

Smack!

She uppercuts me, and goes to swipe me across the chin. 

Puft!

I block forearm to forearm, causing this audible thud, one that makes the very bones in my arm shake. 

She tries to kick my head and I catch her heel, leaving her you know what wide open. 

Thump!

Palm strike her right in the cooch, and she rolls across the ground, holding her privates. “You know… I’ve heard women say getting punched there hurts really bad…”

“Should have believed us!” I say as I bring my heel down but she rolls away. I kick her in the stomach and send sprawling across the ground some more. Her reward for being too slow. 

“You know, Mr. Metrolight,” I taunt, moving into the phase where I toy with her, “you may have Jetta’s speed and strength, but without the insanity that makes her her…” and stand over him with in a quick dash, “I’m just fighting you with superspeed and her ironic ‘fuck me’ boots.”

Shadow Mask switches back into his normal form, and asks, “Why… are they ironic?” while clearly out of breath. 

‘Why do you have conversations as you fight?’

Some of us fight people we know, I don’t know what to tell you.

I pull my leg back so I can crush his stomach—

Shiftss.

Snap!

But a new she caught my foot. 

Fuck.

Woosh.

He throws me with one hand. I follow through to flip across the room instead of landing on my back. I land with a perfect split of the legs, a master gymnast would be proud.

“Better question,” Shadow Mask says, as she stands and reveals a new, familiar face, “would your mother be proud?”

‘Don’t believe it,’ Azrael warns me, but seeing him change into a woman with long, straight raven black hair like mine, and the same pale skin Jetta makes fun of, it’s like looking in the mirror of me in twenty years… if I were still able to age.

“How?” I ask her. She reads minds, but I don’t remember my own child’s face, let alone my mother.

She laughs, a snark and condescending sound that sounds both familiar and enraging. I get the feeling I did not like my mother much. 

“That you did not,” she says, Shadow Mask’s words through her mouth, but unlike with Jetta, they feel strangely at home. 

“Oh my god,” she says, “are you trying to make me cry right now?”

BANG! 

I shoot at him, and with what must be my mother’s speed and powers, she trades his pocket knife for an katana blade that blocks the bullet. 

And in the spark, I see a flash of this woman in a karate gi… in a dojo… coming at me… another memory. 

The sword isn’t real.

‘Venatrix!’

I flash back to the present and indeed, the woman is coming at me with Shadow Mask’s knife, but this time in combat fatigues.

I duck back as the blade comes over my head, and switch weapons.

Switch.

I’m dual-wielding with the shotgun and handgun, but then I see her knife flash much like my own reloading and switching ability. 

Now she has two swords. 

She aims to slash me with one and I raise my shotgun to block, but I realize too late that leaves me wide open for the other.

I twist my body and so she just nicks me—

In another flash, in another memory, my mother is standing in front of me, in a study of some kind. She’s not wearing anything special, or threatening, but she looks at me with such rage and hate, her hand raised and coming for me. I can see her mouth moving to scream but I can tell what she’s saying. 

Let’s just say its something not very nice.

I don’t move, I didn’t move, I let her slap me.

Crack!

But here’s the thing, it’s really Shadow Mask punching me with the hilt of his sword. 

I’m back in reality, rolling away and back to my feet. I look up at her, with the face of my mother, shotgun and handgun in hand. I don’t remember much about my mother, or even her name, but from the memories that have been forced on me, I think I know this… 

Pump.

I add incendiary rounds.

… I fucking hate my mother.

“You know,” she says, having just read my mind, “maybe this form may have just backfired.”

“Oh it did,” I promise her, and shoot for her throat.

“Let’s fix that,” she says, as she dashes back to dodge the first shot of my shotgun, and cut them with her swords. 

Shiftss.

In whisk of the wind, Shadow Mask becomes someone familiar that I don’t immediately recognize, but Azrael does immediately

Michael.

Somehow I get the feeling that this isn’t just some generic whitetoast dude from the East Coast, but the biblical Michael. 

And why I say that has nothing to do with the angelic armor, the wings, or Azrael’s passionate flashback hitting me in the face. No, it’s all because of the fist that suddenly wipes itself with my face. 

CRACK!

I’ve never been hit so fast but had it feel like it was taking forever. It was like a slow-mo punch in the movies. 

I roll to one knee, shotgun pointed at him and charge my shot. I try to pull the trigger until I feel my muscles spasm and my back creaks like a gutter drain. 

“Azrael,” I growl as I feel her flood of guilt-ridden, longing, loving emotions flow through me. Also, added bonus, now I can sense her more NSFW feelings too as her memories wipe across my face. 

He comes at me with his fist, and then without warning, the flood of emotions from Azrael puts a different image in front of my face. 

What I see flashes back to Shadow Mask as the Archangel punches me in the stomach.

Hah… 

I haven’t had the wind knocked out of me in a long time. 

“Guk!”

I haven’t had someone grab and lift me by the throat like this in a long time. 

“I know I look like Michael,” Shadow Mask says, “but I really don’t want see how your roommate is looking at me right now.”

“You and me both,” I choke as he spins me around to put me in a headlock as I contemplate how I’d rather be choked.

“Jesus Christ,” the shapeshifting merc curses.

“Not my fault,” I say, as I can barely breath, but seriously, with all the emotions that Azrael has become lost in, and I mean literally lost in, it’s telling that horniness and having a kid we don’t know are the only things we seem to have in common. Its like emotionally, we are the worst possible partners the other could have.

Shadow Mask uses Michael’s raw strength as an Archangel to try and make me turn blue, trying to crush my windpipe as I struggle to get free. 

“Honestly,” he continues to say to get a rise out of me or Azrael, “if I had to say which pair wouldn’t make sense, the Archangel of Death and the Archangel of Humility would be pretty high on my list, but then again, having to deal with Azrael is something no one has patience for.”

‘What… did he say?’

Azrael, I really need you to focus, I need to be able to focus.

“I mean, who else could put up with her, am I right, Vee? The ego, the sense of duty, the hypocrisy and the condescending way she talks to people, you most of all. 

“Honestly, I bet it was the hypocrisy that caused her to fall to Sin in the first place. You’d need to be the embodiment of Humility to put up with that.”

‘How dare he…’

Azrael, I sense… a lot… of unbridled rage, and… believe it or not… that’s not what I need right now!

“Though then again, there is a reason he never went after you, Archangel, why he never tried to bring you back. He let Venatrix walk on out of Heaven with your soul and not once have you seen him try to capture you and bring you back.”

I can just hear Azrael hyperventilating.

“He must have realized just how much better off he and his daughter are without you,” and with that, Shadow Mask breaks open a whole dam of emotions down.

‘YOU DARE!’

Never have I ever felt such power come from Azrael herself, and never have I ever felt her will supercede my own. Suddenly, its like we’re sharing control, but we’re using the same controller, and that’s not a good thing for anyone.

But hey, that’s what Shadow Mask wanted.

He lets me go as I try to control my arms and legs, take them back from Azrael as the wings pop out without me wanting them too, and strands of my hair start to turn white in front of my face. 

Azrael!

‘I’LL KILL HIM!’

Like a monkey, my limbs fly at high speeds. I go for Shadow Mask as he wears Michael’s face, but has on his own dumb, snide, evil smile. He never wanted to crush my windpipe, I’m such an idiot, I don’t need oxygen! He wanted me to lose control so he could better beat the crap out of us.

“I’ll give you this,” he says as he dodges, blocks and swipes Azrael’s fists as they come at him, “you’re a very hard cookie to crack, Venatrix, but the Archangel-”

PFFT!

Azrael gets him with one good punch that knocks out half his teeth, nearly sending him to the ground spitting out a mix of spit and blood on the ground. 

Azrael is there in a second to kick him in the stomach and to slam both hands down on his back immediately. The durability of an Archangel barely keeps his back from snapping as Azrael nearly shatters it.

She grabs his armor, and then brings her knee up into his gut… 

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Thud!

“Agh!”

Thud!

“Ack!”

… and then throws him across the ground. 

Azrael really wigs out and puts herself on the way to a full Archangel transformation, which is enough to destroy half a planet with a step if not kept under control… and control certainly doesn’t describe us right now. 

It takes Shadow Mask a second to get on his knees, but that second is nothing when Azrael comes down on him with full force. She’s ready to use one punch to end him, this whole building, Erica, and everything we’re here for, and there’s nothing I can do.

As her fist flies towards him, I wonder how I fucked this up.

Thump.

Pfft.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh SHIT!

Shadow Mask shifted, and caught Azrael’s fist with this red barrier. At the same time, he freezes time and space around us in a bubble, absorbing the energy used. 

Shadow Mask must want whats in this building really, really bad..

But the problem is, the person he turns into to do all this, is someone that’s been mentioned by a few people to be way too strong for me.

Smoak.

From his position on his knees, with his right blue eye and its white pattern, with his left white eye and its black pentagram, Shadow Mask has mastered and replicated Smoak’s brooding face. 

Thom!

“ACK!”

 I see that Shadow Mask knows how to use the Ojo Blanco… however you say… well enough. I can tell just by the pain it inflicts after he stabs three fingers to the spot right above my heart. 

He stops Azrael’s transformation cold. 

His blue eye the red barrier to backhand me with a wind-

Crack!

-palm strike to the chest-

Crump!

-and kick me in the face, up into the air.

With barely a second to think, there’s a pop, and I know he’s behind me. I raise my forearms to block him from kicking me.

Smikt! Spoosh!

Instead, he puts an electrified hand through my shoulder, and faster than I can scream out, there’s a pop and he’s in front of me. Blood all over his right hand, and in his bandaged left, there’s a fire funnel forming into a ball.

Take a guess at what he does with it.

BROOOM!!

The fire tunnel fractures, if not breaks, all my ribs. I can’t breath, and if that didn’t knock the wind out of me, the force that sends me through several floors does. 

I feel the second worst physical pain in my life, my insides on fire, like they’re being stabbed by said broken ribs, plus the actual fire that’s burned through my skin and into my stomach.

Then my downward trip is ended when I crash into the elevator shaft, and the back of my head hits metal.

That actually helps with the pain, because I can barely think or process anything. Everything starts spinning and I feel like I’m falling. I’m falling into nothing as darkness consumes me, and Shadow Mask has beaten me again, by cheating.

Oh, a searing pain pulses through my head, and my whole body feels like an open cut that someone poured gasoline on instead of just alcohol. 

I’m fading away, battered and broken, I can’t fight off death like this. I’m gonna die, I’m truly going to-

Scrip! 

BANG!

“AAAAAAAAAA-AAAAHHHHH…. FUCK!!!!!!” I scream, as reality tells me the darkness was literally just the elevator shaft, not death. I know this because I hit the elevator parked at the bottom, and went through it

“Venix?!” I hear Erica incorrectly call out my name. The elevator doors won’t fully close, as I’ve… well… I’ve fucked this whole thing up.

I’m in this daze where there’s three of everything… everything’s foggy, and everything’s crossing over itself with Erica across the hall. 

She’s in the room I remember from Dir. Song’s memory… the vault made to hold the A-particle. 

Clearly, they buffed security and its usage by building a battery around it…  and making it accessible to a twelve year old.

I think I’m watching her try to open it as I fight to stay conscious. I feel myself becoming wet with blood from all the wrong places, which is really like 99% of my body. I reach out to the little edge where the elevator doors are trying to close and attempt to pull myself out.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Azrael apologizes.

Oh, fuck off.

‘I am, this is my fault.

You’re… and I’m only going to say this once… you’re absolutely right… 

“Aaahhhh!!!” I yell out in pain as I pull myself slowly out of the broken and shambling elevator.

I hear a pop and Smoak is there for a second, until he turns back into Shadow Mask.

Immediately, the merc falls to his knees, coughing, choking on blood based on the sound. He must really regret the mask right about now. 

It’s seemingly true that using someone’s powers really does a number on his body. Explains why he doesn’t do it that often. Hell, he struggles to stand as much as I struggle to crawl. 

Now… the question is… most importantly… which of us will heal faster…  or heal enough.

Shadow Mask has his gun in hand as he struggles to stand up, fighting against the urge to sway back and forth. He aims it at Erica and orders her to, “Hurry up… with the A-particle…” and halfway he falls to one knee, but keeps his gun raised.

I’m pulling myself out as Erica works. I can’t see that far ahead of me right now, and it’s frightening to me how literal that sentence is. 

Shouldn’t I be healing?

‘You’re usually nigh-invulnerable, you don’t have an instantaneous healing factor,’ Azrael reminds me. 

Oh that’s right, that’s why I’m dying on the inside… and I have to avoid swords from just about everyone on this planet.

I’m still struggling to pull myself forward until I’m out, but that doesn’t change the fact that everything hurts too much to get up. There has to be a way get myself out of this with my hands wrapped around that merc’s neck.

Smack!

I look up and see Shadow Mask standing on his feet, much straighter than a man with his injuries should be able to do. Then I see Erica on the ground, without the A-particle in her hand… because it’s in Shadow Mask’s hand. 

Around his hand, the parts that resemble electrons spin around him, growing brighter and causing places under his shirt to light up. 

When places over his body stop lighting up, he cracks his neck and stands perfectly straight, completely healed. 

“No one told me it could do that,” he says as he looks over his body, looking for wounds and rests his hand over his stomach. “It’s not perfect, but it’ll do…” 

Erica starts to crawl slowly towards me when Shadow Mask looks like he’s about to kick her while she’s down.

RRRUUUMMMBBBLLLLEEEE!!!

I dig my fingers into the floor as this place is hit by the largest earthquake I’ve ever experienced. Erica cries out as she falls over onto the ground, and Shadow Mask falls back to his knees, cursing to himself as the building seems to finally be falling apart.

CRUMP! CRUMP! CRUMP!

The room floor starts to tilt, and I start sliding across the ground as Shadow Mask and Erica fight not to. 

“Veetrix!” Erica yells as she jumps to me, landing on my stomach causing me more pain than I needed right now… but at least I stop sliding.

The place is shaking and spinning, and I’m starting to think this is more than just a simple earthquake when it starts to feel like we’re rising. 

Even Shadow Mask starts to panick as he yells out, “Fucking Guardians!”

Even though it hurts a shit ton, I yell at him, “You’re a Guardian!”

“Shut up!” he yells at me, and then shit really starts falling apart.

CRUUUMM-RUUUMM-CRRUUUMM-CRUUUMMM-CRUM-CRUMMM!!

The building around us continues to fall apart and I have to listen to this little girl scream as she hangs onto my chest. Shadow Mask tries to avoid falling debris as the walls collapse, and light shines right into his gask mask. It blinds him and a rock hits his back. 

“Fuck!” he curses, as I sure as hell hope it hurts.

Erica tells me through tears, “I think we’re floating,” as her dark makeup streaks down her cheeks and the world slowly stops feeling like its falling apart. 

Shadow Mask stands in front of the light, shielding my eyes to it until he shifts a bit and it blinds me. His mask turns towards the A-particle in his hand and he says, “I have the prize, and the rest of you have run out of time.”

And he jumps out the building.

“No!” I yell as I watch him disappear, and hear the flap of wings as a shadow is cast over me for only a second.

Before I can say or do anything, I feel this heat beating down on my eyes and I try to cover them… until I feel heat touch and seep into my chest.

I open my eyes to look up at Erica holding an A-particle to my chest… but how. 

“I don’t understand,” I tell her, “I thought Shadow Mask had it.”

“He has one,” she admits with a guilty gleam in her eye, “but I just made another, I can just… make them.” She drops that information like it wasn’t anything important or special. 

I feel my insides being slowly mended, and the hole in my shoulder being sealed together. This A-particle, what the fuck is it?

“You made this? How?” I ask as I grab her shoulder, my strength coming back to me near instantly. I look around for some kind of machine, only to turn back to see her holding another one in her other hand. 

“I make them,” she repeats, and this time I understand, I understand much more than I thought I did.

‘Why would anyone leave the things they love the most where the monsters can touch them?’ Azrael’s overwritten motto pops into my head again.

And so does Amora’s refusal to tell me what Hasan wants.

Then Cap, telling me the secret to my face and I didn’t even realize. ‘No, I’m not after her.’

Erica is what Hasan wants, and I look out the building at a world where gravity is falling apart. The Guardians are about to kill exactly what they came here for. 

I’m not completely healed, but I don’t need to be. I sit up as Erica is still holding the A-particles, and scoop her up in my arm. 

“Wait, but you’re still hurt,” she says as I stand on my feet, holding her close.

“Doesn’t matter, we don’t have time!” I say, and start running towards the opening, right as huge holes start to open in the earth’s surface and blast out magma and other energy I don’t understand from the Earth’s core. 

Yeah, we have next to no time at all.

Erica is trying to tell me to stop, to slow down, but I still jump out the building into freefall. She starts screaming her lungs out, thinking we’re going to die for some reason.

‘I don’t think she saw the wings,’ Azrael tells me.

That’s right, I remember, and from runes that appear over my back, the black angel wings form. In a instant, she stops screaming and stares past my head in awe, and after one flap she realizes.

She moves her head away from my shoulder as we soar above the buildings. 

Everything around us that’s still in one piece is floating towards the sky from the influx of gravitational energy. At the same time, city wide explosions are coming from the core all around us. 

Erica looks me in the eye amid all this destruction because she realizes we’re doing what most people only dream of. I give her a pretty shit smile, and she looks at me like I’m insane. 

I soar up towards outer space as fast as I can where I see a tear in space, a portal just above the Earth’s atmosphere. I can see where it leads too.

Hasan’s galactic destroyer, for when he doesn’t feel like doing things with his own hands.

I can’t tell how massive it is from down here, but I’d like to see it.

‘What’s stopping you?’

I need you to give me all you have, because I’ve got nothing.

‘That’ll mean transforming, and you know what that means.’

I know.

Without further destruction, with Erica safely in my arms, I feel all of Azrael’s power flow through me, and in a flash of light all around my body, I enter my True Azrael form. 

I become the embodiment of death, with skin white as snow, and hair to match. I have red eyes to peer into any soul with the unlucky fate of meeting me. 

I am the Angel of Death, I am the courier of souls, and the ender of worlds. 

Not the ender of universes or planets, but the worlds that people hold in their minds, the things that die when every person loses their life. The world that they held within themselves. 

That is what I am the end of.

And for this transformation my wings extend farther than they normally do, and as the Earth begins to collapse below our feet, I fly full speed ahead. 

I fly beyond light speed, the rate that allows angels to travel between universes. 

And lucky me, I can think just as fast. I watch in slow motion as the Earth collapses in on itself and explodes, just as I enter the portal.

‘To think… the first thing I see in months is destruction on such a grand scale. How sad.’

Well, I am the Angel of Death.

I don’t exit the portal into more space, I exit onto the bridge of a ship that needs better lighting. As I fly past people at their stations, in their black space military uniforms, with their holographic panels in front of them, I feel like I’m in a real piss poor episode of Star Trek. 

I release my transformation, and when my feet touch the ground, I still keep sliding back nearly a couple hundred yards a second. Thank god this is the longest ship bridge ever made.

Up until I lose my footing before I lose my momentum, and hug Erica to me as I tumble and roll, protecting her as I bang just about every part of my body against the harsh metal floor. 

BANG! 

As I bang my head pretty hard, I can feel the blood come out but I don’t let go of her. I’m regretting exceeding light speed very much right now.

BANG!

Especially as I bang my head a second time. 

Zoom.

I hold tight as I expect to break a bone eventually, but it doesn’t come. It takes me a moment in my daze to realize that I stopped moving. 

I hope my eyes to this purple hardlight all over me and Erica. I look down and I see a guy who looks just like Cap, only he has a pretty nice beard, and a black skintight suit  with a golden wolf emblem on his chest. It’s… a lot, but it looks so much better than a stupid fucking fedora.

His eyes glow purple, and purple hardlight shines around his hand. I’m guessing the floating I’m doing right now is because of him. 

His eyes and his hand stopped glowing purple as he lowered his hand. At the same time, the purple hardlight around Erica and me disappears and I fall to the ground with a quiet thud.

“You’re too late,” I hear that shapeshifting asshole say before I look up at him.

I look past the feet of the man who saved me from splitting my head open, right at Shadow Mask as he stands before a throne. 

You know, on one hand this ship is very Star Trek, and on the other it turns full fantasy with a tall throne with spikes. Hasan should really pick a theme and stick to it.

Then I look at the woman on the throne and think twice. A woman with the same mulatto skin tone as every human Guardian I’ve met today, is holding the A-particle in her hand, inspecting it.

‘She’s quite striking, taking to the throne like it were her own,’ Azrael adds, reminding me that the few seconds I was in the True Azrael form has strengthened her bond to me, so much so that she can see through my eyes. ‘I won’t say its not a welcome change.’

Ah, fuck off, I still don’t like you.

I realize that I’m staring at her, but I don’t really care for how rude it is. This isn’t some kind of heel turn where I learn Hasan is a woman, I’ve seen him on TV and heard his voice aired throughout Cornucopia enough to know Hasan is a man. I would say that I even know his face.

As I let Erica go, and try to stand up, I point at the woman and question, “Who the hell are you? You’re not Hasan.”

She lifts her head and her brown eyes shine as much as her dark hair does. She goes so far as to smirk at me as she stands up from the throne. 

“No, I’m not,” she says, finding the idea humorous, “I’m sure it’s pretty confusing to see me sitting in my chair, leading a destroyer that looks so much like his.”

“Yeah,” I agree, “very confusing.”

She walks down the stairs of the throne and holds the A-particle out to man I think is some sort of telekinetic. “Hold this for me, Arrow,” she asks of him, and it glows purple as it floats to him. 

I recognize the name Arrow. 

‘You’re meeting many famous names today.’

I am.

His complete moniker is Dark Arrow, and he’s one of Hasan’s generals, specifically of the White Knights. He’s also one of the Brotherhood, like Cap. He’s supposed to be as strong, if not stronger than Cap. 

‘Assume he is.’

I will, it means he can restrain Shadow Mask if he tries anything.

‘I wouldn’t be so presumptuous.’

As if anyone could like that asshole.

As the woman walks to me, Erica moves to hide behind me while I’m still down on one knee. She stops before me, letting me get an eyeful of her combat leathers, which look thicker than Arrow’s. I can’t stand these pompous, arrogant types, who flaunt their position and power every chance they get. I expect some kind of gloating as she bends down and… 

… extends her hand.

“Hasan’s my dad, call me Christina,” she introduces herself, and smiles rather sweetly at me and Erica. 

If she even breathed hard enough… I remind myself.

I take her hand and she pulls me back to my feet. It’s strange, we’re actually the same height. I don’t know exactly which daughter of Hasan Christina is supposed to be, I just know that some are known to be more peaceful than others.

She never stops smiling, but she does stop looking at me to bend down to Erica level’s. “Hi sweetie,” she says as she strokes Erica’s chin, “I’ve spent a long time looking for you, would you mind terribly showing me your gift?”

Erica is taken aback that Christina would know about her ability, but I’m not surprised at all. Erica looks up to me for approval and I nod my head. Impressing Christina could mean life or death for her.

I look over at the two Guardians in the room. While Arrow watches without a care in the world, the second Erica makes the A-particle, Shadow Mask’s uncrosses his arms. 

“Don’t worry,” Arrow tells me, “I pay him too much for him to make a scene here.” That both did and didn’t ease my worries. Better yet, he relieved one and replaced it with another.

“Beautiful,” Christina tells Erica, and I look down to see the daughter of God giving Erica a smile so infectious she can’t help but return it, if not without a bit of awkwardness. “You’re perfect.” 

Christina stands up, still holding Erica’s hands in hers. With a nod of her head, she says, “Arrow, ask the woman for her reward,” and she turns to him to ask, “anything was it?”

“Anything within reason,” Arrow corrects.

‘What’s not within reason for these people?’

Raising the dead, maybe?

‘I am more than sure that many of their number have risen from the dead.’

“Are you kidding me?!” is how Shadow Mask starts his tantrum. “I brought you the A-particle, that’s gotta mean something.”

“You want a bonus?” Arrow offers him, and he must be able to see through that mask, because when the merc’s head turns, Arrow’s own tightens. “That’s the best deal you’re gonna get, considering you failed.”

Christina looks at Arrow with an arch of her brow. “What the hell is the A-particle?”

“What the girl created in her hands,” Arrow tells her.

Christina laughs, doing more than confusing the people in the room, what is it that this woman is playing at? It takes only a glance to see that she’s scaring Erica. 

“Sorry, why would I care for that?” She opens her hands and the four ‘elements’ form over her hand to combine and make something that looks eerily similar to an atom. “I can do that, it’s how she does it that’s important.” 

Christina looks down at Erica with less than an innocent smile as she informs her, “Many people do what you just did, Erica, but the way you do it by controlling matter is very special. It means you can do so much more.”

She nods Erica towards the throne, giving her the softest order I’ve ever heard, “Come now, I think you’ll enjoy meeting my daughter, she’s only a few years older than you,” a comment that makes Arrow chuckle, “but I think you’ll get along just fine.”

Like a little fool, the moment Christina tries to lead her away, Erica pulls her arm free. To her credit, Christina does not roll her eyes, but she is in no way surprised. 

Erica runs to me, and takes my arm. Everyone has seen this situation before, but it only means that we’re all prepared. 

I know what Erica is about to say before she says it. “I want to stay with you!”

And I already know what to say. “No, Erica, you don’t, its not safe to go with me.”

“But I feel safe with you,” she says. What I know for sure is that if I were to try to take her, she wouldn’t feel very safe for long. 

I look to any of the people around me for help, I’m shit with kids, I’m shit at this. Christina is the only one who throws me a lifeline, the one who likely has a lot of experience with kids. 

First, she tells me, “Erica, you will have the full protection of my house, the House of Hasan. You will be my ward, which gifts you the same protections as my own children who are the closest thing we have to royality, to place things into perspective.”

‘Oh yes, she most certainly has done this before.’

I look down at Erica and tell her, “I’m just a merc,” but Erica’s still giving me the puppy eyes. She’s going to make it hard. 

Shadow Mask stalks our way, calling out, “She doesn’t want you, kid,” earning a glare from Christina and Arrow as he walks past us, “get that through your head.” 

The asshole stalks off a few feet further before disappearing with a shift of the light, going home I’m sure.

Erica looks up at me with the kind of hope I think a woman with Christina’s experience is used to, but I’m not.

I bring my hand to hers, and rip it off my arm. “Listen, maybe when you’re older we can work on a contract together or something,” then I turn away from her and I say, “but right now, I’m standalone act.”

‘You’re forcing it.’

Is it obvious?

‘Not enough that she can fight it.’

Erica’s hurt, I have two working eyes, that much is clear, but that’s what necessary. 

Christina swoops in, and takes a gentle hold of her hand. “Come on, let me bring you to your new home.”

Erica walks and hangs her head with a pretty deep sadness for a kid, especially as Christina leads her away from me. Erica is about to turn back towards me, and for a moment I think I might actually change my mind. I mean, come on, aren’t people who lose their child supposed to replace them with a surrogate or something? That’s how Batman got Robin.

But before I stop kidding myself and seriously consider doing something stupid, Arrow does me a favor and steps between us.

“Don’t look at her,” he whispers to me, “it’ll only makes it harder.”

“I’ve known the girl for less than an hour,” I tell him, trying to assure him that we’re all overthinking it. 

At least, I think I am until he says, “It takes even less for people this alone, you won’t get many chances to have a life with people like her, and usually that’s for the better.”

Before I was just looking around him, through him even, but when I truly look Arrow in the eyes I wonder why this stranger’s words speak to me. If there are so many like us, suffering like this, why do we do it? Fight and kill?

‘Do you know how to do anything else?’

Is that really it?

‘Does it need to be anything more?’

No, I guess not.

Arrow moves out of the way when Christina sits on the throne with Erica on her leg. “Wave, goodbye,” she tells her, like the girl’s five years younger than she really is, but Erica doesn’t wave. She’s too disappointed in me to wave, she expected me to take her on some grand adventure.

Woom.

Christina teleports away and its just Arrow and me. At least I got one of the nicer Guardians as company, it seems. I wonder how many of the Generals are nice. 

“So,” he says, as he tries to brighten the mood, “what did you say you wanted for your reward,” but before I can say the age old phrase he adds, “let me guess, you didn’t say?”

I crack a smile at that. 

I didn’t take Erica for a few reasons outside of the fact that Christina and Arrow would crush me like an ant. One of them being that I can’t live out my life’s mission saddled with a kid, especially with one that’s not mine. 

I have two whole species that I enjoy killing.

‘Venatrix.’

And it takes very special, very expensive bullets to kill them.

‘You’ll never kill them all.’

That may be true, but I have an eternity to have fun trying.

“Bullets,” I tell Arrow.

“Bullets?” he asks, as if he heard me wrong the first time.

“Specifically, the angel and daemon killing kind,” I add.

“Ah,” he goes and smiles, “the angel and daemon killing kind. A lifetime’s supply?”

I twist my my lip, and say, “I was thinking more an eternity’s supply.”

“I’m sure there would be no problem with you know who paying for your bullets everytime you buy them,” he says, “could probably find a way to connect them to your reloading powers.”

‘This is foolish,’ Azrael tries to convince me, ‘you’ll never defeat all the daemons, and especially not the angels. This is just some immature revenge quest against a people who don’t know better.’

That’s no excuse, and even if it was, it’s not a revenge quest against a people, its against you, Azrael.

‘Killing of daemons and angels has yet to hurt me in the way you think.’

You’re right on that. Before I was just taking my anger out on randos to get a rise out of you. I figured eventually I’d kill someone who mattered to you. Now I know.

There’s a stark silence in my head as Azrael grows hesitant to answer me anymore. 

‘You wouldn’t,’ is all she says in response.

You took everything from me, Azrael. You took my life, my soul, my paradise, and any chance I had of finding my child.

‘You can’t find my daughter.’

No, but she’s not who I’m thinking of. I’m thinking someone much easier to find.

‘Then who?’

I hear that Michael is a pretty big name up in Heaven.

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This short story follows a character who originated in an older short story, The Thrill of the Kill. Look forward to the next few parts! Check out the YouTube Channel for audio versions of one of our other short stories!