6 chapter 6

The drive to the Bludhaven was different for the two siblings. Elena was nervous. She was thinking that one guy already died she wasn't going to let another die, especially after she looked at the file and saw the guy was almost as young as Elias. Driving to the city, she always felt like she was in a race with someone in her mind.

Elias on the other hand was having a good time. He still had mozzarella sticks in his pocket so he had snacks. Elena's choice of music was pretty good, she listened to every type of music but she had more rock music than others. Elias was enjoying the music, the area around couldn't be considered the best view but he still enjoyed it and he was enjoying some snacks.

The drive went by with Elias enjoying himself and Elena nervous driving. Time went by until they could see city skyscrapers from afar. As the city came to the view the two started to see more 'traffic cameras'. From time to time, they would also see police officers with assault rifles and that was considered normal these days.

After some times they reached a police barricade at the entrance of the city. Nowadays with how dangerous the world had became, the cops were expected to carry military issue weaponry making them look like they were ready for a war. There were also two armed, terminator looking robots that worked with the cops near this barricade and this was also considered a normal thing.

The cops stopped Elena's car. They asked for any form of identification and Elena provided. The cops checked it and allowed them to enter the city.

Entering the city, Elias read the location of Virgil's house out loud for Elena and Elena started to drive. This city was a lot safer than Gotham and New York. After the mutant uprising, most of the rich New Yorkers came to Bludhaven and with them they brought some security. The city security did provide safety for normal people too but the little people still didn't get that much protection.

According to his files, Virgil and his family weren't in the best financial situation so him and his family lived in southern parts of the town. They used to live here since before the mutant uprising. The city had put a lot of pressure on them to force them to leave the city but the family managed to stay.

Driving to the neighborhood, the two saw that security was a lot more relaxed in the area. From time to time, they could see some animal shaped mutants walking around and since the uprising a lot of them are now considered citizen but treated worst normal citizens.

"Okay I hope this is the place." Elena said as she reached the street Elias told her to. "Now, did the files say where their house is?"

"No." Elias said as he checked the files.

"Then how the fuck are we going to find them?!" Elena said angrily.

"We can ask." Elias said and rolled down the window and spotted a random person. "Hey excuse me! Can I ask you a question."

The person was a girl in her late teens, she gave Elias a look and started to walk away faster. Elias shrugged and started to call for more people. Most people ignored Elias but one mutant started to walk toward them. This mutant was a humanoid cat with black fur and yellow eyes.

"Hey dude. You need something?" The cat said.

"Hello, I wanted to know where Hawkins family lives?" Elias asked.

"Who's asking?" The cat asked.

"I am." Elias said without any malice in his voice.

"What do you want with them?" The cat asked.

"I wanted to talk to them." Elias said.

"Is this guy for real?" The cat said looking at Elena.

"Sorry he didn't have a lot of human interaction." Elena said.

"All right, you guys sound a little weird but you are all right." The cat said and started to tell them where they can find the family. The two thanked the guy and started to drive there.

"You should work on your human interaction." Elena said.

"It worked, didn't it?" Elais said.

"How do you know he wasn't lying to fuck with us." Elena said a little agitated. "When you act weird people tend to fuck with you."

"Firstly, you are not weird so how would you know." Elias said with his usual calm neutral voice. "Secondly, I checked his heartbeat and he wasn't lying. He also had a crush on you, his heartbeat skipped a little when he looked at you."

"I'm sorry what?!" Elena said a little shocked.

"There is the house." Elias said completely ignoring Elena.

Elena also seemed to forget herself as she saw the house looked very empty. Elena parked the car in front of the house and got out. She really wanted to rush inside but she knew this was a bad idea.

"Okay, I will take the lead." Elena said sternly. "Stay behind me. I can protect myself from most damages. I am also a lot more powerful than you."

"No one is inside." Elias said as he got closer to the house.

"How would you know?" Elena asked.

"You say that I am weak but I still have some useful powers." Elais said and started to walk toward the house.

When the house was in Elias's detailed range, Elais felt that it was booby trapped. The trap was probably placed by Elias's old friends in hope of getting to him. The door was attached to a thin wire attached to a grenade. Normal people would open the door completely and trigger the trap but Elias simply used telekinesis to disarm the trap then used it to pick the lock. The wire was attached to a frag grenade and now Elias had a frag grenade.

The house was emptied of valuable. At first it was like it was looted but looking better, Elias saw that places that important things like the TV was taken there was not much damage. Most of the trashing seemed to be done after the place was emptied. There was also no sign of struggle like blood or signs that someone was attacked so Virgil had probably left before the attack in this place.

"OH my god." Elena said as she looked at the place. "We are too late, the Doomshapers must have gotten to them."

"No, they didn't." Elias said as he kept looking around. "There is no sign of struggle. The place seemed to be first emptied of valuables and then someone came."

"What do you mean there is no sign of struggle?" Elena asked.

"Well, the trashing is mostly searching for people." Elias started to explain. "The trashing is things like couches and the carpet was moved looking for hidden doors. The place that most valuable things were taken from look mostly unharmed. There is also no sign or smell of blood in the air so I say no one was attacked."

"Wait, did you or someone warn them before hand?" Elena asked.

"I did tell them to be careful a couple days ago." Elias explained.

"Okay, that is good." Elena said with a sigh of relief. "Okay, what now? Should we search for a way to find them or should we just leave."

"There isn't any more traps here." Elias said. "We can search this place without worrying about dying so yes I say we search a little."

"All right." Elena agreed and the two started to search around.

Elias checked the rooms and found that there were two bedrooms belonging to teenagers and one parents room. They all had computers and only the one that was in a boy's bedroom didn't require password. The computer was mostly cleaned off but Elias still managed to find that Virgil seemed to be interested in jump city.

"I found his Number." Elena shouted.

Hearing that Elias walked toward the direction of the sound. He found Elena holding her phone up was smiling.

"How did you do it?" Elias asked.

"I found a phone book." Elena started to explain. "It is weird that someone still uses these things but whatever. I searched for names and started to call them. I acted like I asked for Virgil's phone number and he gave me theirs instead. Most of them just hung up but a couple of them laughed and were very interested in me calling Virgil and ripping him a new one. Three of them gave me the same number so I guess this might be him."

"Nice work. Can I have the number? I really want to call him." Elias said.

"Sure." Elena gave him the number. Elias dialed the number. At first no one answered so Elias called again and this time there was an answer.

"Who is this." A male voice came. This was not Virgil's voice, it sounded a lot more mature.

"I this Virgil's number?" Elias asked.

"Yes. Now tell me who are you." The voice spoke again.

"I'm wraith." Elias said.

"Wraith! Really?!" Elena said with a laugh as she heard only one side of the conversation.

"What do you want with him?" The man asked keeping his voice as stern as when he started.

"He was carrying a couple of bags for me. I want my bags and want to know how he is doing." Elias explained.

"Your three bags are here and Virgil is all right." The man explained.

"Can I talk to him?" Elias asked.

"He isn't available right now." The man explained." I will tell him to give you a call as soon as he can."

"Okay." Elais said. "If you found him tell him his family house was raided and there was an explosive trap here."

"You are There?!" The man said with a voice that was between angry and worried. "You should leave no. That place is dangerous you should leave now."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Elias said.

"You don't understand." The man said a little angrier. "The people that are looking for Virgil are very dangerous. They can and will kill you."

"I know and I am careful." Elais said.

"This conversation is going to be pointless." The voice said. "I will tell Virgil to call you as fast as he can. In the meantime, you should be careful."

"Sure, goodbye." Elias said and ended the call.

"What happened?!" Elena asked.

"I was told Virgil will call me." Elias explained. "Of course there is a chance that this was a Doomshaper and they are going to send hit squads here so we better wait in your car for them."

"Or we can leave." Elena said while making a dramatic wave toward the door. "If they are truthful then as you said Virgil will call you and they aren't then we don't have to be here anyway."

"I still think we should be here." Elias said. "If they are sending a hit squad then there is a good chance they have Virgil. We can capture the hit squad and interrogate them."

"Okay that makes sense." Elena said as she thought about it. "Okay lets go to my car. I will drive a little away from this place to make sure they have a harder time spotting us."

"Yeah, you should go first, I'll be with you in a moment." Elias said.

Elias shrugged and left the house. The moment Elena was gone, Elias went to the kitchen and started to search for any form of food. After a few moments of searching he found a cookie jar and it still had cookies in it. Elias ate one cookie and it was good enough so he stole it. He searched for more food but this was the best so he left the house.

As Elias left the house he sensed Elena's car a little future away and he walked toward it. Seeing Elias with stolen food Elena got a little angry with how calm he was even with the chance of a battle in the future. She got calm when Elias offered to share the cookies.

The two waited for a few minutes until Elias's phone rang. The number was different from Virgil's number but Elias still answered.

"Hello." Elias said.

"Hey wraith it's me Virgil." The voice answered. "Listen, I was told you are at my home. You should really leave that place. There is a good chance those fuckers are going to raid the place. I know you are tough but I don't think you can handle too many of them."

"What was in my bags?" Elias asked.

"What?" Virgil asked.

"What was in my bags?" Elias repeated.

"One was guns one was bullets and the other one was some trash in a bag." Virgil answered.

"Okay, you are Virgil." Elias said. "Listen I want my things back. You can eighter bring them to your empty house or we can find another place to meet. You also better have kept the bag with what you call trash, if any of them are missing, I will skin you."

"I have the feeling you just ignored the first thing I said." Virgil said.

"I did ignore it." Elias said.

"I will get you your things but you should leave." Virgil said.

"Don't worry." Elias said calmly. "Your house was already raided. They also placed a trap in your house but I disarmed it. They had also stolen your cookie jar."

"Shit." Virgil said and then there was a pause. "Wait if the cookie jar was stolen, how did you learned about it."

"Lucky guess." Elais said with a mouthful of cookies.

"You fuck." Virgil said with a laugh. "All right I will find a way to get your things. I have to first talk to others about it see if we can meet you somewhere."

"Sure, goodbye for now I guess." Elias said

"Yeah, goodbye." Virgil said and hung up.

"What happened?" Elena asked.

"It was Virgil and he is all right." Elias explained. "He also said that he would call me back in a few moments. There is a good chance thy might come here so we better wait."

"Fine, we can wait a little more." Elena said with a sigh. "Hey by the way, what bags you were talking about?"

"I got guns." Elias answered.

"Okay." Elena shrugged.

The two waited in the car while eating the cookies. While waiting Elais started to look inward and see if all of the deaths that happened lately had changed him in anyway. A little bit of time looking and Elias felt something new, like he had just grown a new arm but he didn't test it for now, he didn't want to damage Elena or her car by accident.

After a while the phone called again, it was the same number that Virgil called so Elias answered. "Hello."

"Hey dude." It was Virgil again. "Listen ummm… can you come to the edge of the town. Some of our team leaders want to meet with you."

"Are you bringing my things too?" Elias asked.

"Yes." Virgil answered.

"Okay just tell me the direction and I'll be there." Elias said.

"Sure." Virgil said and proceeded to tell Elias where to go. Elias memorized the location and told Elena after ending the call.

Elena started the car and drove to where Elias told her. While they were driving, Elias started to check the two gun he stole from the Doomshapers. He always expected to be attacked by anyone even Elena. He constantly checked her heartrate for any drastic change.

To reach their destination they had to leave the city boundaries. There was a small forest area at the edge of the town, they had to go there. Elias told Elena to drive slowly as he focused on his senses and strengthened them as he much as he could. Elias was looking for any signs of ambushes.

The sun was still up so Elias first saw a group of costumed people standing in a clearing before he felt them. As they got closer, Elias felt something between a vehicle and a living thing was hovering above the group that was waiting for them, looking toward that direction, Elias didn't see anything.

"Oh my god." Elena said as she suddenly stopped. "Those are the fucking justice league and the Titans. Are we meeting them or something?"

Looking at the group, even Elias knew the big three superheroes, batman, superman and wonder woman. He didn't know much about these three other than he was supposed to avoid fighting them.

Other than the three, Elias saw Garfield and Virgil. Garfield wore a black and white suit that covered most of his body but his green face. Virgil was wearing a blue leather jacket with lines of yellow over a black and yellow shirt, he also had a half mask that covered his eyes and the top of his nose. Elias managed to recognize Virgil by his facial structure and he felt like Virgil.

Other than them, Elias saw that woman from before Troia and the guy Aqualad. They both wore the same clothing as before.

"I can see Virgil." Elias said and for the first time looked nervous. "Do you think this is a trap? Should we fight, run, what should we do?"

"I don't know." Elena said almost in a panic. "What did you do to them? Did you piss them off or help them?!"

"I helped a couple of them and almost killed one of them." Elias answered.

"Why is nothing simple around you?!" Elena said angrily.

"Okay, I will start shooting and you drive back." Elias said as he grabbed his guns.

"NO!" Elena shouted and Elias stopped. "Listen, you said you saved some of them and almost killed one so I can guess that one is still alive. There is a good chance they wouldn't want to hurt you."

"Okay," Elias said now sounding calm again. "Lets go and meet them. I really like to get my things back."

"Right, nothing bad will happen, they don't kill people." Elena said as she started to drive toward them.

The two got closer to the group and got out of the car and start to walk toward them. getting closer they could see that other than Batman with his permanent frown, the others didn't have frown on their faces.

Superman was standing in the middle of the three, batman had one hand bent a little placing the hand closer to his belt and wonder woman had her sword and shield out. The others were a lot more relaxed than these three.

"Hello." Elias greeted.

"Um… Hi." Elena said after Elias.

"Hello it is…" superman was about to start but he was stopped by Batman saying. "Are you Elias?"

"Yes, I am Elias." Elias answered.

"Who is that girl?" Wonder woman asked with a stern voice. "We were told that we will meet only the person named Elias not her."

"Oh, this is my sister, Elena." Elias introduced. "We were separated after I was born and we found each other lately. She really isn't willing to leave me alone after finding me."

While Elias said that he was checking people's reaction's with his senses. Most people were actually happy for Elias especially superman. Batman had no reaction and just looked at Elias suspiciously. Wonder woman talked sternly but her eyes and her heartbeat showed that she felt a little sad. His sister Elena also felt a little saddened after Elias said they were separated when Elias was born.

"Hey Virgil." Elias said as he looked at static shock.

"Wait, how did you know?!" Static said looking a little surprised.

"That mask isn't hiding that much about you." Elias said. "Of course you don't have to worry about anything. As long as you don't show both of your identities to people with above average intelligence."

"Fuck." Virgil said.

"Did you just call us dumb?" Garfield said sounding insulted.

"No, I'm just smarter." Elias said. "Now do you have my bags? I really want to get my things."

Elias already knew they did have the bags. They were a little further behind the group behind a large tree. Elias didn't really want to show off his powers and wanted to be polite so he asked.

"We do have your bags but I think we should talk." Super man said calmly. "First I want to thank you for saving three of our… friends, yes friends is the right word."

"You're welcome." Elias said and gave him a smile that disappeared immediately. "No can I get my things so I can leave? We really should leave."

"Elias, maybe we should…" Elena wanted to talk but he couldn't. She looked both very happy and terrified of meeting these people.

"I said first, that means there is more." Superman said.

"I think I should do the talking." Batman said, he seemed to have ran out of patience. "Your action, your powers, and the fact that there seemed to be a bounty on your head had us interested."

"Okay." Elais said. "What do you want me to do about it? I can't just shut not have my powers and I would love to not have a bounty on my head."

"I am not scolding you." Batman said. "I am saying that we should come up with a plan to fix all of this."

"I'm open to suggestions." Elias said.

"You can join the Titans." Superman suddenly said. "We heard that you have a unique way of using your powers and you are very capable. We think we can train you to be better at what you do. We can also give protect you and give your life a purpose."

"Where are my bags? I have to go." Elias said.

"I understand that this request was a surprise." Batman said calmly. "You are in danger and you can put a lot of innocents in danger. We can't let you go around and harm innocents."

"We can't imprison him eighter." Wonder woman said. "He hadn't done anything wrong except wanting to live. His actions didn't harm anyone eighter so we have no right to force him to do anything."

"How long until an innocent gets hurt?" Batman said trying to keep his composure but Elias felt his anger.

Batman, wonder woman and superman started to argue. Superman and wonder woman were against forcing Elias to do anything while batman was arguing against it. Elias felt wonder woman's heartbeat was abnormal, as if she was regretful of something she did or was going to do.

"Elias." Elena whispered to Elias. "Are you sure you want to decline their offer? They are legends. Everyone wants to be one of them."

"Apparently not everyone." Elias said and turned to Virgil. "Can I have my bags? I really want leave this place."

"Yhea sure." Virgil said and walked a little back. He retrieved the bags from behind the tree and walked to hand them to Elias.

The bags were a little heavy so Virgil had a hard time carrying all of the bas so Elias walked toward him to help. Before he could grabbed the bags, Batman moved to him and grabbed him by the wrist.

"You are not going anywhere." Batman said.

Wonder woman walked to batman and at first Elais thought she was going to stop Batman but that wasn't the case. Elias felt wonder woman's heartbeat change drastically and felt her sword hand move to attack him.

"Shit." Elias cursed and tried to get out of Batman's grapple. Batman wasn't aware of the coming attack and he thought Elias was trying to run away so he tried to hold him down. Batman was strong but not superhuman so Elias managed to break out but it was too late, the sword wonder woman was holding pierced the back of his neck, severing his spine.

In his last moments, Elias first heard batman shout "NO" and then there was a loud scream coming from Elena followed with a telekinesis power that threw everyone away from Elias. Elena started shoot the heroes with everything she had and that was it, everything went dark.

"They took their times." Elias heard Alaric's voice in the darkness. "Interesting, I didn't expect her to kill you. That is better than others of course, Cassandra Sandsmark is in heaven and she wants to come back so I can work with that. Oh and Elias don't worry, I will resurrect you and will stop your sister from getting herself killed, or killing someone. With the way she fights she might kill them."

Elias didn't feel dead, more like he was transported. Elias felt like he could open his eyes so he did and found himself on the edge of a canyon and down there he saw an enormous jungle. He wanted to get back from the edge of the canyon but he found out he couldn't move.

Looking at his hands he saw they were each chained to a different trees on either side of him. Elias also looked down to see he was completely nude.

"Ah, you are here." Alaric's came from behind him. "It takes most people a lot of time to get here but I should have expected this from you."

Walking to his was a giant creature that stood 213cm(7ft) tall. The man didn't have a face only his skull was visible. Instead of eyes, this man had glowing green orbs. The man wore a long robe that covered the rest of his body so Elias didn't know if he had skin or not.

"Alaric?" Elias asked.

"Yes." The skeleton said.

"Would you mind going and saving my sister?" Elias said sounding a little concerned. "You said she might get herself killed. I did meet her very recently but I still prefer to stay alive."

"Don't worry." Alaric said with a wave. "Now that we are in this realm, time will move faster for us. It would be hours until her current telekinesis blast hits wonder woman."

"Okay, are you going to resurrect me now?" Elias asked.

"It isn't that easy." Alaric said. "As a child of purgatory, your death released a powerful death energy. I will use that energy to bring back the Cassandra. When I do that, a physical body and a spark of life. I will then kill her and use her spark of life to bring her soul here and put her in your place that is when you can go back to your body."

"That sounds like a dick move." Elias said. "Is there any way to do it without putting someone in my place? I feel like they would have a bad time here."

"This is where monsters go so yes it would be horrible." Alaric said as he looked at the jungle. "And to answer your question, yes there is a way. it includes of you releasing yourself from that the chains, going to the jungle and finding a portal to your own soul."

"I can do that." Elias said.

"I believe you." Alaric said. "The problem isn't you being able to do it, the problem is the guardians, the people I want dead. You see it will take them some time to find you here but trust me they will find you and burn your soul."

"What if I was able to release myself before that? You said time moves faster here that means I have a lot of time to get out." Elias asked.

"They will find you in four purgatory days." Alaric said. "You have less time than that because I will be killing the girl in two days. I can find your soul so you don't have to worry about being lost I can find you. And remember, you are a part of purgatory you are a lot more powerful here."

"Okay." Elais said and put his focus on the chains on his hand. Why would there be chain in afterlife? What if someone that has never seen a chain dies? The answer was simple this is Elias's own mind so he willed it to turn to water and the chains obeyed.

"impressive." Alaric said. "Maybe you can get out in time. Or maybe you will be eaten because you have power. I prefer if you can get out, I really don't want to kill an innocent."

Elias didn't say anything. He was at the edge of canyon trying to find a way down. Again he was thinking about if he could change reality like that.

"One last thing, before I go." Alaric said. "Is this girl important to you. You seemed to want to save here even at your own risk."

"I am a heartless man but I won't let innocent be judged in my name." Elias said.

With that Alaric opened the portal and left Elias to think. Elias didn't know how but he was going to get out not just to save the girl but to prove, like he always had to prove that he can do it, no matter what people say how weak he is, he can do it.