by thedoctor, Spirit Of Vengeance, Grimm and GoozX
Monroeville, Pennsylvania:
Tayden took passing blows at zombies that came too close. He was now in the thick of it. All too harshly, the zombies were reminded of this particular individual from earlier. He was the one who separated their souls from their bodies and made them inanimate again. Several broke off their attack. Still, there were some who attacked more fiercely. Most likely, they knew what they were about to receive, and desired it.
In an instant, Tayden found himself standing in front of a menacing Priest. The giant towered over him. A grin crossed the future man's face that oozed evil intentions. "I think you've just bitten off more than you can chew, little man."
"Son," Tayden said with his own grin that transmitted a lighter message, "I've taken shits bigger than you." A confused look replaced Priest's grin. "Okay, not really. It's just an expression. You know, to kinda heighten the mood. Push over that whole David and Goliath thing we've got going here." Priest's face now displayed disappointment at the poor attempt. "Everyone's a critic. This is exactly how I got my book in the Bible edited out. Can we just get on with this?"
"Go ahead." Priest began to laugh. "I'll let you go first. Then, I'll rip your limbs off one by one before feeding you to my minions."
Tayden limbered up a little before sending his fists into a flurry against the body of the possessed Priest. He began to yell like an old Kung Fu film as he punched and kicked. "Waaa hooo haaa heeeee haaaaawwwww yyyaaaaa yooooo rabbit punch wooooo kick to groin he-ha-he-ha-he-ha-he-ha-he-ha elbow to stomach taaa-taaa-taaa-taaa-taaa I'm really kickin' ass now weeeee!"
His body paused in a stance that signaled that he was gathering energy for a punch. The angel stared at his own fist intently as his face ran through a series of Bruce Lee fighting impressions. A lightening-fast blow landed right into Priest's belly as Tayden yelled, "Whooowwwaaaaa!"
Once again, he posed with his fist deep into the soldier from the future's stomach. His head trembled slightly as his voice trailed his battle cry off slowly. After a few moments, he stepped back and bowed.
Priest's laughter bellowed out through the deserted town. "HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Simpleton, you just filled me with more energy. That's why I took this body. All that energy you released is now flowing throughout this entire body."
"I know," Tayden said, smiling. "That was my plan all along."
Before he could even ask what the angel meant, the huge body of Priest crumpled in on itself. Pain overtook every limb and muscle. Then, the evil spirit felt not the kinetic energy that Tayden had released into the body it currently possessed, but the divine energy that was now acting like antibodies to his viral presence. "I can't be destroyed now," it said between heaves. "I haven't even told you my evil plbrwahtph!"
Tayden jumped back as the vomit hit the ground. Priest's body teetered for a moment before falling backward onto the concrete.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The angel looked back to see undead bodies being flung through the air as the white van approached. It screeched to a halt in front of him. Priest was lifted, quickly as possible, into the back of the van before it sped off.
"What now?" Jason Hill asked, looking at the unconscious man in the back.
"We find Grimm and his biker twin, settle that shit, then get the hell out of this town," Dirk Bell said while plowing through the sea of zombies.
Elsewhere, four hooded figures watched a cauldron that displayed the battle.
"This is not going the way we had planned."
They watched as, the zombies all but forgotten, the Spirit of Vengeance turned toward the sound of his iron steed approaching him. "Let's see how you like this, you dead son of a bitch!" Focusing his thoughts, he commanded the bike to stop, and stop it did, throwing Grimm over the handlebars.
"You bastard! You're going to pay for that!" Dusting himself off, Grimm picked up his axe and took off running toward Vengeance.
"You realize they're going to kill one another, don't you?"
"They won't... yet. Just watch."
Monroeville, Pennsylvania:
As the white van roared off into the distance, the small viscous liquid that Priest had previously vomited up began to boil and bubble. It took a vague and indefinable shape and began to follow the van, leaving a sticky, viscous trail behind it. The sound of a small, high voice singing and laughing could be heard, were there someone to hear it.
Grimm's axe swung toward Vengeance, who caught it with his right hand. His left hand held his fiery blade, but itself was held by Grimm's hand. It was a stalemate thus far. Vengeance decided to take a chance. He unleashed his pain pulse. A sickly yellow energy flew out from his hand and into Grimm's axe. The yellowish energy attacked and mixed with blue crackling out from Grimm's axe. Something was wrong.
The two energies reacted violently to each other. Vengeance had never had this happen. The two beings were now permanently locked together with a violent, fiery green glow surrounding them. Trapped together, their histories played themselves out inside their own heads.
The green firestorm of mystic energy raged violently, incinerating the few remaining zombies who were foolish enough to attempt to reach the beings inside of it.
The white van careened wildly down the road toward it, Dirk Bell at the wheel. Jason Hill rode shotgun, literally, while Tayden looked over the still-sick Priest, who was now hacking and coughing on the floor while holding his stomach and sides tightly.
The van slammed to a stop a few short feet away from the energy expulsion. The side door slid open, and Tayden jumped out, headed for it.
"Tayden, you'll get yourself killed!" Bell screamed out the window.
"Have a little faith, Dirk," the angel gleefully exclaimed.
Tayden leaped directly into the midst of the raging inferno, speaking softly to himself the whole time. Once inside, he found his surroundings to be quite different from what he expected. There was no storm, no violent energy expulsions, only a serene, green calm. Grimm and Vengeance stood locked together as if in some grotesque parody of ancient warriors.
"Here goes everything," the angel said, grasping each warrior's arm. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
Grimm:
Caught up in Michael Ringo/Vengeance's world of roaming, transformation, and dealing out punishment, Grimm began to feel a bond with this being who had opposed him twice now. Manipulated like a puppet by mysterious forces with their own agenda, turned into something physically less than human, but at the same time so much more.
"You understand his pain, because it's your own, right?" a familiar voice asked.
"Tayden!" Grimm looked up from his reverie suddenly. "How...?"
"Don't worry about that now. We're almost done here. Take my hand, and we'll leave."
Vengeance:
The Spirit of Vengeance and Michael found themselves in Grimm's world of violence, crime, and brutality. They saw him experimented on, drugged, killed, buried. They saw him given power like theirs, but different. After a time, he began to attempt to use this power to help others, as they did. They saw him kill them in defense of an ally, and remembered doing the same in their past.
"You know why he did what he did, because you've done it also, haven't you, old friend?" a familiar voice asked.
"Tayden?" He/They asked.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it? Let's get out of here. There's someone I think you should meet."
The energy storm dissipated before Dirk and Jason's shocked eyes as Tayden, Grimm, and Vengeance emerged together.
Grimm and Vengeance turned toward each other, and Grimm reached out his steel-gauntleted hand. Vengeance clasped it in his leather-clad hand.
"The cause of vengeance has been served... well. Thank you, my friends..."
"Isn't that nice?" Tayden beamed.
"I think I'm gonna puke," Dirk said, lighting a cigar.
Vengeance's form began to ripple and shake as he turned back to Michael Ringo. Michael began to fall over from exhaustion before being caught by Grimm and Tayden.
"I think we have a new recruit," Tayden said.
"Great -- another freak with a split personality. We done here? I'm ready to go," Dirk grumbled, his trench coat rustling slightly in the wind.
"Will you join us, Michael?" Tayden asked, setting the young man against the back of the van.
"If that's where the road of Vengeance takes me..." he spoke between gasps for breath.
"What about you, Jason? Need a lift somewhere?" Tayden said, continuing to extend his natural courtesy.
"No," the young man answered. "I still need to finish my business here before going on my way. Besides, someone has to stay behind to bury the dead."
"Should we leave money on the counter?" Tayden asked with a handful of potato chips and soft drinks.
"Who's going to collect it?" Bell responded while filling the gas tank of their newly acquired Suburban.
"I don't know. I just don't feel right by just taking it. Or by leaving those guys in the courthouse."
"Hill said he'd take care of them. It's not our problem anymore."
"I guess." Tayden stared back down the road in the direction of the courthouse. A quick smile crossed his face. "Hmmm... Never thought those guys would move so quickly to get back INTO a jail cell."
"Yep. Zombies will do that to you." Dirk's voice was distant as though his comments were just instinctual reactions to a conversation he wasn't really participating in.
"And did we really have to steal another car? Why couldn't we have just...?"
"For fuck's sake! We didn't steal anything. The owner of this vehicle is dead. Besides, I don't feel like roaming around the country in a county paddy wagon with one guy from the future, a fallen angel, Mr. Presto-chango, and Skeletor." The pump stopped, and Dirk dropped the nozzel to the ground.
Grimm came walking out of the convenience store with a case of beer under each arm and in each hand. Tayden looked at him quizzically as he approached. "I think I've earned it," was all Grimm gave for an answer to the angel's unasked question.
"In the back, Fright Night," Dirk said while climbing into the driver's seat. "And keep your head down. The last thing I need is for the cops to see a drunken skull sitting next to me. And no scaring kids in passing cars."
Michael Ringo sat on his motorcycle, ready to follow. He wasn't so sure as to what was going to happen, but he'd had that feeling for quite some time now. He was almost used to it.
"Maybe you should take it easy with Priest being in the condition he's in," Tayden suggested as he climbed into the passenger seat.
"We're on a deadline, kid," Dirk said as he slammed down on the gas. Priest, who had been left laying in the very back of the SUV, felt his body jolt. The pain and nausea of his recent experience coursed through his body. He felt like he was going to vomit, even though he had nothing left to puke.
Priest closed his eyes and drifted back to unconsciousness. He had been doing this a lot lately, even before the possession and the storm. Everything was black and then finally peaceful.
"He wanted to name you Jonathon," a voice spoke, that of a lovely young lady. She was no older than twenty-four years of age, yet she cradled an infant in her arms. "I think it's a beautiful name."
The young mother rubbed the baby's head softly, a gentle smile on his face. "He, your father, is not here anymore. He died serving the country. He was a hero among men. He loved us very much. He wished that he could be here."
She paused, holding back tears. "He loved us very very much." Pause. "He did."