DarkWing (Final Editing in Progress)

Chapter 14 - No Rest For The Wicked

"She couldn't have gone far!" I yelled at Jinx through the treetops. I was flying over the forest and scanning the area, while Jinx was on the ground, checking the places that I couldn't.  "She was still recovering when we left!"

"But we were gone for a good thirty minutes! That would've given her plenty of time to get away!"

"Wait a second!" I yelled as I landed in front of Jinx.

"What are you doing?!" Jinx screamed at me. "Let's get going, we don't have any time to lose!" She made a move to dart past me, but I put my arm out to stop her. She looked at me with her cold, killer cheetah eyes. They always turned that way when she embraced her second nature.

"Why would she try to get away?" There was a dark silence between us, then I asked the question we were both thinking. "What if she isn't running?" I asked coldly. Jinx got off of her hands, and stood straight up. Her eyes began to clear, and I could see the human in her again, that soft, loving, caring side of her. "What if she was taken."

Jinx looked down. We both knew very well how much Corrector Corps wanted us.

"Why would she have left?" I asked again. Jinx began to clench her right fist. I was angry too, angry and sad, but I tried not to show it. "If she was taken, then we have no chance of catching her now. They would be long gone." I took a deep breath. "But. We both know where they would have taken her." There was a short silence. Even the crickets were silent. But then, Jinx whispered something.

"Better get ready... Because tomorrow night..." She looked up at me. "We show Corrector Corps, we show the world, we are done." I had never seen so much anger in my life. It was burning like an inferno behind her ivory eyes. They almost glowed in the moonlight. Her razor sharp teeth were showing as she growled. Her palms and her fingers were flexed with her inch long claws fully extended. As she breathed, her entire body moved. Her shoulders lifted and her chest expanded as she breathed in. Then, her body relaxed as she breathed out. It wasn't even that cold out, but steam came out of her mouth.

I stared at her, awestruck, silent. I didn't realize how much Shadow actually meant to Jinx, I didn't realize how much power Jinx has, how much power we all have.

Jinx let out a powerful roar that rolled through the forest and shook the very ground we stood on. She dashed back towards the warehouse faster than even my eyes could follow. I glanced at Death, perched on my right shoulder. She nodded at me. We both took off towards home.

I flew through the broken window of the warehouse to find Jinx at the other end, doing pullups while facing the wall. I looked around, and there was still no sign of Wulf and Drake when suddenly the doors of the warehouse began screeching. Jinx dropped down from the bar she was holding onto, but still faced the wall.

"Where were you," Jinx said, still facing the wall. Her voice was so hard and emotionless that it sent a cold shiver down my spine. Drake looked at Jinx, and could instantly tell something was wrong. He stopped walking, then turned his head to me. I just looked at the ground sorrowfully, but made a motion with my head up. Drake looked up, and being the smart man that he is, he figured it out in an instant.

"That's why there were so many... I'll get Wulf," Drake said.

"Is he out there again?" Jinx asked. I looked at her confused.

"Yeah, we had to take a detour because there were Correctors in the woods. We ended up near them and he wanted to go."

"You stay here, Drake. It's been awhile since you've fought." Drake turned to Jinx, surprised.

"Fought? Yeah, you're right. I havn't had a good fight in year. But why does that mat-" Jinx shot Drake a look over her shoulder, and he realized. "I see. I guess it's time."

"DarkWing." Jinx said as she turned to the wall again. Drake looked to me, puzzled. I looked down.

"Go get Wulf. I need to stay here and train with Drake."

"DarkWing?" Drake asked. I quickly responded to Jinx.

"But Wulf. Where did he go?"

"The same place he always goes when we randomly don't know where he is" Jinx answered. "Haven't you noticed?" I thought about it for a second. I did remember that Wulf would randomly disappear every few days, and no one would wonder why.

"But you guys said earlier that you di-"

"Yes, I know, we always said we didn't know where he went. It was out of respect. Truth is, and I'm not proud of it, but when he first joined our group, I was suspicious. We've actually known where he goes all along. I followed him one day. Ever since then, I never followed him again."

"Then where is he?" Jinx looked down.

"Visiting his parents."

"What?" I asked confused. "I thought he was an orphan?" You know that feeling when you begin to ask a question about something, but just as u ask you figure it out? But then the question just still comes out even though you don't actually need an answer? This was one of those times.

"He is," she said. She looked up. "He's at the Ithaca City Cemetary."

It was that time of the day. The sun gently rose over the sleeping city. The light passing through the air gave the world an almost dream-like feeling. The innocent silence slipped into my ears. I heard nothing but the sound of the wind gently passing by me as I drifted towards the cemetary.

Eventually, the trees below me cleared and I saw a huge grassy field filled with flowers and stone slabs. Near one of the edges of the cemetary was a man, kneeling near 2 graves. I nodded at Death, flying to the right of me, and swooped down head-first towards him.

Just before colliding with the ground, I pushed up with my wings to get my legs under me, then landed silently behind him. Death perched on my shoulder, and I walked slowly to him. He didn't react at all to my arrival, but I knew he was aware of my prescence. I put my hand on his shoulder.

"It's a beautiful morning," said Wulf, still in the same position as when I had arrived. "It's times like this, I wish they were alive." There was a long, but peaceful silence. Wulf spoke again. "So Jinx is really going to go through with it," he said, surprising me. "Ever since I've known her, she has always planned on taking out her revenge on the Correctors. I wouldn't say she was obsessed with it, but I knew it gave her her drive, I knew it kept her going, the thought that one day, she could do to them what they did to her." He looked up at me now. "I knew she was following me that one day, but only that one day. Since then, none of the group has ever come with me, they never even asked or tried to stop me. I know they wouldn't have sent you if it wasn't something important, if it wasn't this."

I nodded. "Shadow's gone." A light behind his deep hazel eyes lit up. His jaw slowly began to shift, and his razor-sharp teeth began to show.

"No time to lose then," he said as he stood up. He glanced at me one more time, then took off into the forest. I looked at Death.

"They really are a family," said Death.

"Yeah, dashing away must be a shared trait," I said, thinking out loud. But then a deep voice came out from behind me.

"It would be smart for you to acquire that trait." My body froze. I slowly looked over my shoulder. There, just a couple of feet away, stood a tall, built man, in a black trenchcoat and suit. "That is," he continued, "if you know what's good for you."