In the Shadows We Fight (for justice and ourselves)

Can you work with little information?

Hellion raised his palms up. A spurt of blood red Ichor shot from his hands like a sideways geyser. Before it could drop out onto the ground, it solidified into a shield. Hellion kept his arm steady as his opponent's sword arced down to strike the shield. Hellion pushed against the sword, knocking his enemy back. She simply flipped in the air, landing on her boots with her sword twirling around into a favorable position. Hellion threw his hand down, watching as his shield molded itself into a red, plasma sword. His opponent cocked her head to the side as she launched herself towards him. He was barely able to bring his sword up to stop her from hitting him. She let her weapon slide across his sword. When she was free, she tried to strike his side. He was able to jump back, but she did graze him with the edge of the blade. From his wound, ichor exploded out to wrap around her hands like binds. She dropped her sword as she tried to pull her hands apart.

Hellion allowed himself a moment to breathe. A few weeks ago, he had graduated from the training program for sidekicks. Tina was shipped off to work with Corpse, and he finally got to meet one of his heroes, Dream. The number one hero was everything Hellion expected him to be: sauve, charismatic, and powerful. Dream had rented out an apartment for Hellion, and he gave him access to Dream's personal training gym. Hellion had felt the rush of excitement in those first few days, but that happiness dissipated after going through a few days of Dream's intense work-out regime. Hellion didn't give up after a few days of struggling, though. He just worked harder to match Dream's expectations. If Hellion wanted to be the number one hero's sidekick, he needed to be at his strongest.

He was finally able to prove himself when Dream took him on a mission. Hellion was told that a group of extremists called the Scarlet Cultists were planning to steal something from Las Nevadas. Hellion wasn't told more than that, but he was willing to work with little information. He trusted Dream and his own abilities. He would be able to accomplish whatever was needed from him.

Dream was fighting against two people. One looked remarkably like the former hero Halo. Hellion didn't recognize the other one, but it seemed like Halo completely trusted the man. Hellion was tasked with fighting the third member of the party. It was a young woman with redwood colored hair and deep crimson eyes. She was wielding a pink tinted sword with a pastel ribbon tied around the hilt. She wore a light pink silky sleeveless jacket that ended at her knees. She had black leggings underneath with garden boots. She didn't have a mask as she had a dozen small roses blooming on her face to cover her most distinguishable features. The most disturbing part was the red vines that were growing in and out of her skin like a string threaded through cloth. He heard that she was called Rose, and it was a fitting name considering her general aesthetic.

He was dragged out of his thoughts when he heard a cracking sound like shattering glass. Rose kicked the blade of her sword, catching the hilt when it flipped in the air. Rose launched herself at him again. Her sword began to glow with a thorny afterimage making it look like it was a giant fan when she swung the thin blade. He was barely able to parry. Even though he didn't have a clue who Rose was, she was incredibly good at swordplay. She seemed to have a distant control over her powers, too. He assumed that the aura that surrounded her sword was her power, if not part of it.

Hellion pushed Rose aside with enough force to knock her towards the wall. Instead of slamming against the alleyway, she twisted her body. Her soles pressed against the brick, her knees bending to create tension. She sprung forward with her sword posed to attack. Hellion brought his sword up. It expanded rapidly to create a thin shield. The shield shattered when Rose's sword slammed against it. Hellion stumbled back, rolling against the ground. The sword didn't touch him, but he felt bruises starting to form across the palms of his hands. He tapped the back of his knuckles against the ground. As Rose approached him, the dozens of fractured shield pieces suddenly melted into tiny puddles. These puddles shot upwards to wrap around Rose, holding her back like chains.

Rose fought against them as Hellion summoned more ichor to wrap around his hands. The ichor acted like gauntlets or small boxing gloves to enhance his strength and protect his skin. As Rose started to break free, Hellion stomped towards her with his body lowered and arm pulled back. He launched his hand forward like an arrow from a bow. His fist struck her stomach. Rose coughed up spit as she rocked backwards, rolling across the ground. Her sword clattered out of her hand. Hellion pointed his fingers at the shards on the ground. The ichor climbed up his leg to join his gauntlets, providing another layer to protect himself.

While he did that, Rose was able to grab a hold of her sword. She swung it towards him. Hellion clapped his hands, holding the blade with his palms. Rose glared at him as she kicked her leg up, hitting his side with the toe of her boot. Hellion fell to the ground, and Rose yanked her sword from his hands. She brought it up, swinging it down like it was a huge battle axe. The pink in the blade was glowing so bright that Hellion was sure he could see actual thorns shooting out of it. Hellion rolled to the side, narrowly missing the sword. He wasn't able to get far enough away to not feel entirely pink rose bushes explode out of the sword in a certain radius. A hundred small cuts tore at the edges of his body. Hellion heaved out a breath as he felt the largest cut in his side scream with agony. Rose straightened up. Even though they had been fighting for a while, the worst of her wounds was probably a fist sized bruise on her stomach. The vines in her arms were making her bleed more than he was.

Hellion allowed some of the ichor on his gauntlets to return to his body, filling up the places his blood should be. What little ichor remaining was remodeled into a sickle. Hellion swirled the sickle around in one hand before diving into the rose bush. He cut each vine before the thorns could touch him. He eventually made it to the center of the roses to strike Rose in the arm. He couldn't chop her arm off, but he had managed to cut through one of the vines that adorned her arms.

She howled with pain as if he had cut her arm off. The vine that he had cut squirmed around against her skin like a panicking worm. Rose turned around to look at him with the harshest glare he had ever seen in his life. She threw down her sword like it was unnecessary weight. The rosy aura disappeared from the blade, instead enveloping her body. She growled like a wild animal as sharp vines shot out from the vines on her arms. The roses around her face withered away into a ghastly black color. Her skin took on an ashy color as her clothes lost all saturation. She had descended into gray-scale with the vines on her arms being the only pop of color.

She shot towards him. She tackled him onto the ground. The thorns on arms cut into his skin. She was easily able to hold down each of his limbs, keeping him from moving. She seemed a lot stronger than she was a few moments ago. She seemed much, much stronger than an average superhuman. With a crazed look in her eyes, she began to growl words at him in a voice that was a lot deeper and more ancient than he thought could come from her. In fact, he suspected that it wasn't. "The Egg shall get what it wants, young demonling. If you continue to stand in our way, you will perish like your parents before you. Your blood will be spilt on Nether soil like the demons of old who dared oppose the natural order. The Dreamons will rise once more to conquer this pitiful world when the young hatches. Join us now, or suffer the consequences. Your arrogation will be your undoing unless you join the Egg."

"No... thanks," Hellion spat at the creature before him that had somehow taken over Rose's body. He was able to twist his hand around, cutting Rose's wrist with an ichor knife. Rose didn't seem to notice as she grabbed his throat. She didn't hesitate to squeeze it tight enough to cut off Hellion's oxygen. A low, guttural noise left his throat. Black spots danced across his vision, and he felt a coldness spread through his brain. He felt like he was sitting in the snow of the Antarctic District. It was painful, but he wasn't dead yet. The knife in his hand launched forward. It took the last of his strength to shove it into Rose's body.

Her grip weakened until she fell to the ground beside him. Hellion laid on the ground, trying to keep his breaths even. In the end, his consciousness slipped away from him.