2 Chapter 2

Cem sat bolt upright and rubbed his head, sure that his massive headache was just an effect of the alcohol from the night before. He sighed and stared at the clock on his nightstand, which read 10:24 in annoying green, digital letters. He leaned back a little and rested on the headboard, relaxing almost instantly. He pulled back the sheets and had to bite the inside of his cheek in order to keep from screaming. Several bruises and miscellaneous scratches covered his legs, the white sheets dyed a slight crimson from the bleeding overnight.

Cem got up, out of bed, and walked carefully on his injured legs. He pulled on a pair of pants, hoping it wouldn't pain him more than it already was. The coarse denim rubbed against the open cuts, probably infecting them, but not enough to make him care. He sighed and opened the door that led to the hallway.

* * * * * * * * *

Emma sat on the edge of the bed, smiling at herself in the full mirror in front of her. She didn't exactly know how it had happened, but a black duffel bag full of cash was on the floor next to her. She heard several footfalls outside and turned towards her door, hoping it wasn't Cem and hoping even more that whoever it was would just leave her alone. She sat in silence for a few minutes before hearing more footsteps gradually get quieter. She grabbed the bag and felt a rush of air, appearing in a penthouse apartment. She dropped the bag and smiled at Hilohr.

"Welcome to Dubai," he smiled at her, revealing his perfect teeth, "and please... meet my father."

* * * * * * * * *

Lochlann smiled and kissed his wife's forehead. Their first night together in the same bed as a married couple. He knew more nights were to come, and he was happy at that. He heard footsteps outside and got up, suddenly feeling very light headed when he stood. Lochlann put a hand to his head and swayed slightly, he reached back to put a hand on his bed, but his body instead lurched forward and puked up the contents in his stomach. Jozie sat up at the sound of him retching and nearly retched herself at the vile scent of the vomit.

She willed away the urge and said quietly to her husband, "what happened to us last night?"

Lochlann stared down at the chunk of metal in the pile of liquid vomit. "I-I don't know. Honey, I puked up a chunk of metal. I think we must've gotten really hammered last night."

"A chunk of metal?" Jozie asked, confused. "Why would you have eaten a chunk of metal? That just doesn't make sense..." Jozie rubbed her head. "Can you turn the lights on?"

"Uh, yea." Lochlann stood up, careful not to step in his pile of vomit. He flipped the lights and jumped as he heard Jozie scream. He ran to her side and saw the object of her attention, a bullet ridden body was lying on the floor on Jozie's side of the room. The body perfectly resembled Jozie, apart from the bullet wounds and the pool of blood underneath the body.

"How the hell did that happen?" Jozie muttered quietly, her words slightly muffled by her hand covering her mouth.

"I'm not sure I even want to know. Today just doesn't make any sense..." Lochlann wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder, hoping to provide some comfort in the time of confusion.

Jozie pushed away his hand and stood up. "I can't deal with staring at me. I'm going to go see how much we drank last night. You should clean up your vomit."

Jozie left the room, leaving Lochlann to stare at his wife's dead body, the scent of vomit and death mingling in the air around him. He stood up and got to work on the vomit.

Cem muttered his good morning to Jozie and she grunted in response, feeling that it wasn't a "good" morning at all so far. She poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot which Cem had warmed up. She muttered her thanks while breathing in the warm and homely coffee scent.

"Have you seen Emma?" Cem asked after watching Jozie take several sips of the warm coffee.

Jozie took another sip of her coffee, "I haven't seen her since yesterday. Why?"

"She's probably just in her room..." Cem looked down at his feet, wanting to apologise for his behaviour yesterday but also wanting to ask for another chance at having a romantic relationship while at the same time wanting to give her as much space as she needed. He was torn.

Jozie finished her cup of black coffee and set the ceramic mug into the kitchen sink. She nodded at Cem and walked back to her room, ready to change into more fitting apparel to face the day in.

Cem stood alone in the kitchen, pissed at himself but even more pissed at Emma for last night. He moved into the living room and sat down on the leather couch, turning on the TV, hoping for something to occupy his mind other than the pending thoughts about Emma.

The local news showed a bank with the front doors completely torn off, several dazed people inside and the door to the vault completely unharmed, apparently opened by the manager's keys. The reporters were talking about how four people came in and how they didn't kill anyone in the bank; everyone there claimed that they saw four giants, but the cameras reveal four normal sized people. When police showed up, one of the four criminals ate what looked to be a chunk of something and was then shot several times by the police, to no avail. The reporter then said that the police were currently working on creating profiles for all four of the criminals using the footage from the cameras. The police would have the rough sketches of the criminals within the hour.

Cem smiled to himself, "If I had the power to stop those criminals, I would have; however, being drunk would've been a problem." Cem stood up, threw the remote down on the couch and went to his room to change. He smiled at Lochlann as they passed by each other.

Lochlann pulled a pan out of one of the cabinets and began cooking an omelet for his wife. He started listening to the news, the anchorwoman was ranting about how the price for a gallon of gas had just reached seven dollars. Lochlann sighed and continued to cook the omelet, sprinkling in shredded cheese and some other miscellaneous ingredients. When Lochlann turned back to the TV, the line read "Four Criminals on the Run" along the bottom and showed sketches of Lochlann, Jozie, Cem, and Emma. Lochlann ran to his room and dragged Jozie out, against her will, forcing her to look at the TV.

"Th-that's us," Jozie muttered, staring at herself in the TV.

"I don't remember robbing the bank. I thought we had just got drunk. Now it's just a matter of time before they catch us and experiment on us." Lochlann fell to his knees and put his head into his hands, praying for a god to deliver them from this hell.

Cem's bedroom door clicked shut after he walked out. He noticed Lochlann and confusion struck him before he asked, "What's up?"

Jozie responded, "We're criminals now. We robbed a bank last night while drunk."

Cem stood, horrorstruck, staring at the TV, staring at his face. He knew that it wasn't possible. He had heard about the story of the robbery, about how one of the three intruders was bulletproof and about the manager willingly opened the door to the vault. Cem couldn't tell Lochlann and Jozie about that.

"S-so the p-police will b-be after us?" Cem stuttered.

"Probably." Cyxdia said, stepping out of a portal next to Cem. Cem jumped back and Lochlann stood up, grabbing Jozie, hoping to protect her from any harm, "calm down, I'm not against you. I'm here to protect you from the government." She held open the portal with one hand and motioned Cem through with her other hand. "Enter."

Cem stared at her for a moment and then looked towards Lochlann and Jozie. He figured his chances were slim staying put, the government would find them all soon. And sooner was worse than taking his chances with a random, naked lady that seemed to have powers. Cem stepped through the portal, entering a large forest. The sound of birds chirping filled the air. Lochlann and Jozie stepped in soon after, followed by Cyxdia, who closed the portal.

* * * * * * * * *

"So you're the devil?" Emma asked for the fourth time, staring through the portal in the wall into a white room where Daosum sat on a white throne. Similar to Hilohr, his robes were pure white and without wrinkles. His olive skin was the exact same skin tone as Hilohr, his eyes were the same as well, maroon without pupils and equidistant from each other. He was without hair, but a slightly too large, rusted crown sat on his head, resting on his ears.

Daosum sighed heavily, "Yes, damnit, I'm the devil. I'm Jetzotz's brother, a god just as much as he is."

"Why do you want me?" Emma asked, biting her nails nervously, Hilohr stood beside her, eating a wilted carrot and staring down at a voodoo doll in his other hand.

"I'm banned from your realm. If I were to step on Earth, Jetzotz, Nuphine, Rivorr, and Cyxdia would all be instantly aware. And I can't use Hilohr, he's only able to stay in the penthouse you're in. There's a long story behind that and I'll explain it later... maybe." Daosum muttered.

"So you want me to just cause chaos? Nothing more than that?"

"I want you to become a goddess of Earth, I want Earth to be in my domain, but I need you to conquer it and I then need you to rule it."

"And you mentioned an army earlier... how am I to do that?"

"Has Roxane not shown up?" Hilohr frowned, staring down at the voodoo doll. Emma looked to him and noticed a small patch of red hair on the doll and the word "Roxane" scribbled on the chest in some sort of black ink. "I'll fetch her..." Hilohr wandered off into another room of the penthouse.

"He's such a simple minded child," Daosum said after Hilohr had left. "Roxane is a... what shall I call her. Not a friend, not a creation, she's an ally. I used her in 1929 to help with the American Great Depression, she got cold feet and her friend Hitler then ended up starting another world war. Point is, she's not a leader, she's a support type of person. And she'll support you because I say so."

"Does she have powers like I do?" Emma sheepishly looked at a different wall, hoping he would say yes.

"She does indeed. Powers that are very powerful." Daosum smiled a toothy grin, "Unfortunately, I must be going. Hilohr will introduce you to Roxane. You are to instruct Roxane to wreak havoc. You, Emma, have a greater purpose. You are to wait for Jetzotz to create another superhuman. Then you will take that one and corrupt him or her. They will become the first one of your army. Now really, I must leave. You will know when another superhuman comes."

The portal closed shut and Hilohr came back into the room, with a red haired girl beside him. She was wearing an unzipped leather biker jacket and didn't seem to have a shirt on under it. Her black leggings were tight against her legs, outlining her large muscles. Her hair was tussled about, she obviously didn't put much effort into keeping it neat.

Hilohr smiled up at her, she looked about three or four inches taller than Hilohr. She sized up Emma and said carefully, "You're who I'm working with this century?"

Emma steeled her face, refusing to show any emotion, "You are to cause chaos, prompting the release of another superhuman which I shall then corrupt."

Roxane laughed. "I don't need you to tell me what to do. I'll be in Tyrphilia tomorrow." She turned around and walked out of the room.

"She can be quite stubborn sometimes, Emma. And very, very independent." Hilohr remarked after he figured she was out of earshot.

"Until the next one comes... I guess I have nothing to do." Emma said.

Hilohr responded, "When more come... you will know." She stepped out of the room and into the luxurious living room, sitting down in the armchair and falling asleep effortlessly.