28 Happy Xmas

Sitting by myself on a rooftop that sits between Red Branch and Street Saints' territory, I bob my head along with the music I have playing quietly from my phone as I wait for the nights entertainment to show itself.

"So this is christmas~" I hum to myself along with the song, kicking my legs back and forth over the edge of the roof.

I'm not too worried about being noticed, since other than my mask I am wearing all black, and even then the masks smile is also black, so I doubt anyone is going to see me from a distance since night time has already shown itself.

"And what have you done~"

I made some last minute preparations with little James before I left, while also calling up Jinx so that he could enjoy the show.

That is the whole point in joining the group after all, to be able to enjoy each others games.

"Another year over~"

However, apparently the process by which mini James makes his anti-power juice takes time, but we still had the syringes that he made before I, well, murdered his family and kidnapped him.

Anyway.

He wasn't able to make more for me, but it wasn't to difficult to make a new syringe that injects itself once it pierces skin.

In other words, I just need to throw the needle at him rather than get close to inject it, which would be a problem considering his power.

It's as I'm thinking this that I espy the star of todays show walking down the street with a rather large gathering of Irishmen, distinguishable by their red and green clothing.

Now that I think about it, it's very thematic that they're wearing christmas colours.

I wonder if they've even realised it.

Also, I feel incredibly vindicated to realise that I was right in my predictions on the capes that would show.

Unfortunately it seems that the Street Saints are late, as I can catch no sight of them despite the Red Branch gangbangers being about to pass the building I'm sitting on.

"War~ is o~ver." I sing under my breathe as the song comes to an end.

𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩.

"You're right John Lennon, war is over." I say as my smile slowly starts to grow.

"The games however, have just begun.~"

With those final words, I take a single step forward, my foot hovering over the edge of the roof for a single moment before the rest of my body joins it.

Then, I 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭.

Do be sure to entertain me, it would be a shame if this ended too soon.

...

Life had been going rather well for Sean, or Equaliser as he's better known, if he does say so himself.

It was a little rough a couple of weeks ago, what with that new vigilante showing up and making us take a few hits, but then all my problems seemed to just spontaneously decide to go away together.

First with Jason coming along, resulting in the removal of the annoyance, and then, just the other day, I get news that the PRT's raid on my old family ended up with nothing to show for it except for a whole lot of blood.

I did briefly consider if it was the vigilante, Tear, who killed them all and made her escape, but I know Jason, and I highly doubt that any upstart like her could best him.

Not to mention, the whole clan was over a dozen people, over half of which were brutes with varying levels of regeneration while the others were all trumps of some description that fucked with powers.

In other words, it's pretty much a death trap for any cape to get out of.

Personally, I see it being one of two situations.

Either Jason pissed the wrong person off, kidnapped the wrong person or something and this was the work of some group getting revenge.

Probably a decently sized group too, maybe even another branch of the Fallen?

Either way, I personally think the other option is more likely.

I think it was that bitch Tiamat going full psycho and just not holding back at all and annihilating them all.

It would explain why the PRT is being so hush hush about the whole thing, not wanting to out one of their capes as the psycho that she is.

A brief shudder wracks my body that I am unable to stop as memories of Tiamat fighting come back to me.

She is one terrifying woman.

A true one person army, as the very world itself changes and turns into soldiers to fight for her.

Shaking my head to clear away the memories, I focus on what's important right now, which is the fight I am marching towards, my only real backup being a glorified bug zapper and an assortment of animals.

The normals only have guns after all, and the only one who might show up that can be bested by bullets is Dovah, which is exactly why he won't be showing up.

Really, I understand that we won't be gaining any territory today, even with the Heroes so distracted, because without our heavy hitters, we can't really do much more than defend.

But then, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 our heavy hitters, we suddenly have to fight a much larger number of people.

Quite frankly, it's only that bitch Tiamat that is stopping us from basically taking over the city, since she could probably fight literally every cape here by herself and win.

Granted, there would be a whole lot of collateral should that happen, hence why she tends to stay back, having a metaphorical staring contest with Cu and Cath.

As we are walking down the early night street, I am suddenly put on edge as I notice Morrigan out of the corner of my eye twitch slightly in a way I know means that her enhanced senses have just picked something up.

Right before I can ask her what she hears, that question answers itself.

Our group comes to a halt as a figure lands in the middle of the street in front of us in a silent crouch.

Thankfully, nobody has to think twice before the pull out their guns and point them at the slowly rising figure, Ba'al and Morrigan similarly preparing their powers by pointing and transforming respectfully.

However, it's as the figure raises it's head to look at us that a sinking feeling settles in my gut.

I recognise that mask.

"He~llo~ Irishmen~ what a coincidence to see you on this auspicious summer morning.~" She practically sings as she makes a dramatic bow.

Even with her blatantly getting the time wrong, all I can focus on is her eyes.

Since the moment she stood in front of us, her glowing crimson orbs and blackened smile have never left my own.

"Now! I must apologise~ after all, I didn't have the time to plan out a proper game~ so we will just be playing something simple.~"

She hasn't so much as glanced anywhere else.

It makes me realise something.

She is here for me.

It makes sense, since I'm the one who sent her to Jason.

But for her to be here, that means that it 𝘸𝘢𝘴 her that ended the Yamori.

"The game is thus~ you all flail around in the vain hope of killing me, and if you are entertaining enough, then maybe you get to live!~ Doesn't that sound fun?~"

She killed Jason.

And now she's here for me.

I feel the others looking at me, waiting for instructions.

I am more than happy to give them.

"What the fuck are you waiting for? Kill that bitch!" I shout, immediately followed by the staccato of a dozen guns going of at the same time.

But it doesn't matter.

She killed Jason.

Bullets aren't enough.

Turning to Ba'al beside me, I lose my cool a little and shout at him.

"Why are you just standing there!? Fucking kill her!"

Only with that does he seem to realise the severity of the situation as he points forward at Tear who has just been standing there, taking the storm of bullets, all the while her eyes have never left my own.

𝘡𝘢𝘱.

The bolt of electricity slams into the Clown, however all it manages to do is force her back a single step.

As if it was some kind of signal, as soon as the bolt disappears, the gunshots also pause, allowing us all to witness the effect of the assault.

I didn't expect much. In fact, all I expected was some torn clothes and unhurt skin.

Instead, the sight we are greeted with is something else.

In the dark lighting it's hard to properly see, but as we focus on her, it's possible to see how her body seems to be.. 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨, for lack of a better word. Like she's made out of water.

The reason why becomes clear as she 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘴 open, like a flower, only if the petals were tentacles of blood and flesh.

Slowly, her tentacles spread away from her body where they were wrapped around her like a snake, until there are four pulsing ribbons of flowing muscle swaying around her body protectively.

"Well~ you're certainly trying to kill me~ but you aren't being very fun about it~ don't you know that guns are like, sooo~ last decade?" She says before each of her ribbons suddenly pierce the ground around her as she crouches down, leaning forward.

"So how about I make it more fun, hm?~"

I realise what is about to happen only a moment before it does and am too slow to shout out a warning before it's too late.

The ground around her 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 as her body is launched forward, her tails following behind her.

She slides to a stop in front of the closest man and doesn't even pause or hesitate in burying her arms straight through the mans chest until they come out the other side, completely covered in blood and flesh.

Then, she 𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘴 her arms aside and 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 him in two, literally ripping him to pieces with her bare hands.

Nobody needs instructions at this point as everyone moves to fight, or run, in the case of most of the normals.

I want to complain about it, but as I watch her ribbons snap forward and pierce through the chests of four separate men and fling their bodies around with wanton ease, I understand completely that this simply isn't a fight that the powerless can take part in.

But all is not lost, and Ba'al and Morrigan both know this without it being said.

All I need it to touch her, and the other two can finish her off.

That's all we need.

A single touch.

By the time that Morrigan reaches her, Tear is using a pair of ribbons to rip a man in half above her, allowing blood and guts to spill all over her body and mask as she stares up at the cadaver.

Morrigan opens by simply trying to crush the smaller woman under her heavy bear hands, but Tear just uses the two ribbons that aren't holding halves of a man to lift herself up and over Morrigan, landing on her back.

From where she stands on Morrigan's shoulders, Tear makes a mocking bow towards me, once again maintaining eye contact.

Suddenly, she tilts her entire body to the side, only managing to keep her balance by using her ribbons as a counterweight and at the same instant, another bolt of lightning passes by where she was a moment ago.

"Miss me, miss me, now you gotta kill me~" She sings, sounding far to happy for the situation at hand.

Then, before I can even get close enough to her that I can join the fight, I have to watch as the two ribbons that ripped that guy in half both drop the body and instead wrap themselves around Morrigan's shoulders.

I'd never heard a bear scream before, but that is what happens as Tear starts to pull Morrigan apart.

However, before she can get too injured, Morrigan transforms once again, turning her body into a crow and trying to fly away.

"Gotcha.~" Comes Tears sadistically joyful voice as a third tail snaps out like a whip at Morrigan's crow body, the foul material cutting through flesh with ease until Morrigan's body reforms as a corpse, cut in two sides that hit the ground with a wet slap.

"Woahhh~ did you guys see that! That bird just turned into a person!~ Hahaha!" The madwoman gasps and points as if she isn't the one here killing us.

With a scream, Ba'al launches a slew of bolts at the insane Clown, but she dodges each and every one of them with simple side steps and leaning out of the way as she runs up to him, making him take panicking steps backwards.

Meanwhile, I can only stand and watch as the demon gets closer, knowing that a horrible fate awaits me if she gets to me.

Ba'al doesn't last more than a few seconds once she gets in arms reach of him, as she simply moved her arms to his neck so fast that they blurred, and then simply snapped his neck with no preamble.

"Ahhh~ that felt nice~", she sighs, before turning back to me, the only other person left, everyone else having died or ran away, "and then there were two.~"

Dear god.

Please save me.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

ohohoho scary~ lady~

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