Dark Heir Issue 5

Manhattan, New York, Sept 3rd 2001

" Sir, I have found him." Neo, the advanced AI, spoke through the speakers in the apartment, shifting my focus back to the files on Tony's Models as I got up from doing my daily routine that Shang Chi set up for me to make sure I don't get rusty.

The man, Anthony Compello, a gun runner, has information on Andre Cord and the illegal business that the Taylor Foundation conducts.

"Thank you, Neo. Pull up the building schematics that he's held up in ." I speak to him as I shift through the building plans, notice the building security system, and devise a plan for breaking in and getting the evidence.

Later that evening

As I pick the lock and make my way inside, I have activated the detective mode on my domino mask to start looking for things that are out of place when I notice a trap door on the ground. I open the hatch and make my way inside. I find a crate full of guns; when I sense someone approaching, I pretend to look through as I take a Batarang and toss two behind me where the person is.

[Ppppprrt Ppprrrrrrt] [ Auggh]

As the Batarang hit the gun away, I leap towards him and flip him on the ground, as I have him underneath me. My knee on his chest.

"Tell me your ties to the Taylor Foundation, or I'll play Tic Tac Toe on your face." As I grab the Batarang towards his head

"I... I... I can't… they'll," he stammers a response as his hand makes its way towards a crowbar near him as he swings, I grab it, twisting it out of his hand

"Wrong move…" I grab his hand, pulling one of his fingers free, and look into his eyes before breaking it. " You have 9 more fingers; tell me who is responsible for funding your operation and where the files connecting you to the Taylor Foundation are," I say to him, going for another finger when he starts pleading

"No, please just stop, I'll tell you, just stop, it was… It was Cord; the files are in my office; you can have them; leave me alone." He starts crying out

"Anthony Campello, you have failed this city, and now it's time to pay for your crimes." I knock him out and drive him nearby to a police prescient, leaving him hanging upside a pole with a cop of the evidence.

It's finally time to confront Cord and leverage the files I have to get him to flip on Tai and tell me what the cult's plans are and where the temple is located.

Splat Splat Splat

Huff Hagh Huff

A man is running down the side of the road while a man is dashing on the rooftop above

"High Huff! Come on, come on!" the man is yelling as he tries to unlock the door

Slick fish

" What, no.." as he gets roped on the belt and lifted onto the roof, dangling upside down

"Oh no, it wasn't me ever you think I did. I didn't," Andre Cord starts yelling as he dangles before he starts screaming as I drop him eight stories.

"Come on, just tell me what you want who hired you, I have money I can pay you double." As my silence started making him more frustrated

" Hello there, Uncle, " I speak slowly

" What the hell, why are you doing this, Dwayne?" My uncle replies in confused frustration

"You know why? Today is judgment day," I reply back as I let go of the Achilles Rope till it reaches a few inches off the ground

[Agghhhh]

I drag him back up and look into his startled expression, waiting till realization sets in and a maniac grin forms on my face.

" I know about the deals you made with Hammer, Stane, Roxxan Mobile, with Fisk, how you twisted your and my father's dreams for the company because of greed and pride, but that was not the biggest betrayal you did, how long did you think you would keep the fact you and Tai killed my parents a secret," I say as I drop him again.

" You will tell me Tais plans on everything you have on the temple of dragons breathe, then you'll turn yourself to the FBI and make a deal turn state evidence on the people you helped launder money to and spend the rest of your miserable life in prison," I yell to him

" No, please… I can't.. she'll.. she'll kill me." He starts pleading.

" What makes you think I won't." I realise him again before dragging him back again

" I let you live because you taught me how to fight, and you know her plans, where the cult is located and your only purpose now is information." I knock him out with a punch to the face and start dragging him into the car he abandoned a quarter mile from here.

As I drive back to the apartment near campus, I think it's finally happening. I can take down the cult once and for all and get closure for Dwayne.

As he's tied up in his office at Taylor Foundation, I wake him up by smelling salt.

He gasps awake, and he starts looking around

" No one is here, and the camera isn't running; just log in and get me the files you have on the cult and the list of people you've been laundering money for. " I watch as he starts agreeing

As he starts typing and logs in to the files before handing them over, I have Neo collaborating the evidence and sending it to the FBI and Cops and calling them to the location as I start looking at the site where it's located in Cambodia, and trying to come up with a plan.

"When your father and I were tasked on a mission in Cambodia, we stumbled on a temple called the Dragons Breath. The woman in charge, Tai, spoke of a prophecy that Westerners would come to the temple and marry into the cult and that the children born of the union would have powers of the well and usher in a golden age.

Your father never believed it and refused. I agreed. I married one of her daughters, Miyami; she was funny, cute, and beautiful. We moved to the States, and I left the military. Your father and I started the Taylor Foundation to help the black community from where we were raised, making sure that they didn't have to struggle like we did.

It wasn't till my wife and daughter were killed in a car accident that I started getting lost. I began taking bribes and launder money for whoever had enough money to foot the bill.

That's when Tai returned and started showing her true self. She had dirt on me, the illegal business I ran through the foundation. It's when I first knew I sold my soul to the devil. She blackmailed me to help her and the cult, and she told me the accurate prophecy of the children: my daughter would have been sacrificed to the temple for us to get the power. She made me try to convince your dad to cheat to make a child offer. I tried to back out, but Tai didn't like that she mind-controlled me to kill your father and your mother; out of guilt, I took you in and raised you in the place of the daughter I lost. She wanted to sacrifice you, and I didn't want that, so I told her I could raise you to take your father's place, and she agreed. It's too late for me, Dwayne but not for you." Andrew starts speaking. I look over and absorb the information silently, not responding as I already knew most of it, and it doesn't change anything.

I notice he starts moving, he pulls a gun from a hidden compartment in the desk.

" I'm so sorry, Dwayne, I love you; I raised you like a son I never had; I know you can't forgive me, but just know I'm proud of you." He says as he puts the gun towards himself and he pulls the trigger.

I don't call the ambulance or alert anybody; I stand and watch the light leave his eyes.

I knew about the gun, and if he were confronted, he would do this; he did it in the comics and would do it here. The guilt has been eating him up for years. It's why he raised me with so much freedom and taught me how to fight because, in some sick way, he knew I would eventually find out and get revenge. I could've saved him; I could've hidden the gun before I dragged him here; I could've tossed the Batarang as he was talking to me, but I wouldn't not for the like of him.

Ever since I came to this world, I knew I would witness many horrible things and maybe have to make the hard decision one day to take a life to save people. I am not The Bat, Daredevil, Spider-Man, or Nightwing. I don't subscribe to their No-kill; everyone deserves a chance of redemption policy. I have served in the military, and I know about the consequences and the toll that comes with killing. It won't be my first choice, but it is a last resort. There are worse in New York and this universe that one day I would have to fight and get into a situation where I would resort to killing like Tai, Sublime, or Purple Man. That day isn't today. Just because I didn't have to kill him doesn't mean I had to save him. His life means nothing to me; the good he has done with him funding scholarships, raising me teaching me how to fight doesn't absolve him from his guilt of killing his best friend and his wife, supporting a cult that's working on trying to take over the world. All the evil assholes he's been laundering money for and helping using the company as a legal way to let them do the unspeakable. He has made those choices himself, and he'll spend the rest of his eternity dealing with the consequences of it.

I get a notification cops are five minutes out, and I have Neo create a suicide note for him as I leave and start planning to face off against Tai and the cult. It's almost time.

Chinatown, Manhattan September 3 2000

"Hello, how can I help you." A waitress comes around to the front to take an order

"Hello, Maria," Tai speaks

"Do I know you or something?" Maria asks

"No, but I know you, your son Donyell. Dwayne Taylor has been keeping tabs on you, making sure you are safe and happy; thank him I know where to find you," Tai says as she knocks Maria out with her guard, dragging Maria into the car as they make their way to the airport

" Did you bring the boy?" Tai responds to the women beside her

"Yes honorable one." Her guard responds

"Good, burn the place. He will be there soon. We will have to get the ceremony started earlier than planned

"Your will be done, honorable one." The guard responds before she starts calling someone who was left at the scene to burn the building and calling up ahead to the cult in Cambodia to get the ritual prepped

Tai calls Dwayne

"Hello Dwayne… so you know… you don't understand the pain and anguish you caused me, my child, but you will; soon enough, I have your brother and his mother with me. Are you ready to die, Dwayne? It's all about to come to an end soon." She says before she disconnects and gets on the plane, the anticipation of finally completing her life's work, her sacrifices to the Well of All Things will grant her omniscience and immortality to take over the world was coming soon

" Soon, it'll be all over soon " she says as she starts smiling like the cat caught the canary