DarkWing (Final Editing in Progress)

Chapter 21

The muscular black suit smiled as the one holding me tightened his grip. He forced me to bend my back slightly backwards, causing extreme pain that I refused to show. The normal one put his head near my left ear and whispered, "Looks like birdie lost his wings." The muscular one cocked his entire body. His back was turned, his feet firmly planted on the ground, his fist clenched, his elbow locked, the veins in his arm pulsing powerfully.

"It's about time you got put to sleep." The black suit smiled. He turned his back foot to propel him forward and launch his punch, but as soon as I saw him start to move, I threw my arms straight up into the air, and slipped down and out of the nelson hold. I bent my knees to get out of the way of the punch that now connected with the other black suit, who flew to the side through a wall. I was now under the one that had thrown the punch, who had just realized what he had done. His body's weight kept moving, although he tried to stop it, which made my life easy. He couldn't react to me fast enough. I extended my legs and shot upwards with my fist tight and my elbow locked, and propelled my punch through his rib cage. My power had lifted him off the ground, and I straightened out my legs and back. He was falling while laid out horizontally in the air directly in front of me, and just to give him a little boost, I elbowed the back of his head and slammed him into the ground.

I spun around and jumped over the secretary's desk to find her lying on her side in a pool of her own blood. I crouched and gently turned her over to lie her on her back, placing my left hand behind her neck, and my right hand on her left shoulder. Her eyes were wide, and there was a ghost of shock still left in her lifeless eyes. Her brown hair was darknening because of all of the blood it had soaked up. Her neck was stained crimson and the slice was still bubbling slightly. I couldn't bear the sight of it. My right hand began to squeeze her left shoulder. I removed my hand from the back of her neck gently, and closed her eyes. I stood up to find a group of doctors and nurses forming around us. They all had fear shining in their eyes. I looked down at the secretary again.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered. "But I swear... You are the last... The last innocent life I'm letting slip from my grasp..."

"Raagh!" I turned to my right just in time to find the normal looking black suit tackle me. He slammed me into a wall behind me, then pulled me off of it, and threw me to the right through a wall and into one of the treatment rooms. I picked myself off the ground, and brushed the dust and plaster from the destroyed wall off of my chest, and shook it off my wings. I didn't care that I was injured anymore, I wasn't dead, and that's what mattered. I looked at the black suit, and now noticed that his jacket and shirt was gone. He was shirtless, just like me, and like me, he also had wings sprouting from his back. Unlike mine though, his wings looked like an eagle's, white and light brown. His physique was very similar to mine, minus the fact that he had a lighter skin tone. Prying my focus from his wings, I found his sharp eagle eyes staring at me, stabbing me, anger burning within them. I hadn't ever seen a black suit mad. It was frightening, almost paralyzing. Almost.

"Can't fight here. Too many civilians," I thought to myself. I spun around to find a window. I smiled, then jumped through it, shattering the glass and frame. I looked down as I felt a sudden gust of wind blow past me. I began falling freely. I found that I had been on the sixth floor, now on the fifth, now fourth. I extended my wings, the air rushing past me now filling them and giving me a painful upwards jolt. I then beat my wings powerfully and began accelerating upward even more. I flinched at every shock of pain I experienced whenever my wings flexed, but kept my composure. I flew back up to the sixth floor, and hovered outside of the window.

I stared directly at the black suit, who was standing at the broken window watching me. I could still see anger in his eyes, but now he was smiling, which made him that much more frightening. Gradually, his body began pulsing. It pulsed to the same beat as his heart. His veins slowly defined and soon it seemed as though there was a network of worms under his skin. His muscles grew as his body pulsed, and after a few seconds, he seemed even stronger than the previous black suit. His legs bulked up, and his pants stretched, trying to contain his strong thighs. His fancy dress shoes ripped as his feet became more claw-like, more bird-like. He opened his mouth, and emitted some high-pitched, sort of bird call shriek. It reverberated and scratched againstmy eardrums, and he shot out of the window. He darted straight at me while I cringed at his call. I recovered, but not fast enough. He threw a punch, that connected with my left jaw and threw me tumbling downward. Around the third floor, I managed to regain control to find him, again, darting towards me. I spun out of the way and he flew past me. I spun around. He was standing close enough to me for me to feel his hot, disgusting breath on my face. I reflexively jumped back, and he threw a kick with his right leg that just hit air. I stopped my backwards momentum, and then beat my  wings once and threw myself at him. I full-body tackled him and we rolled through the air. He eventually pushed me off of him, and my back collided with a tree. I blacked out for just a second because of the pain. I was about a foot above him, and 10 feet away from him. I then grabbed the tree behind me, and pushed off. I darted at the black suit while he was recovering from my tackling, and grabbed his neck with both hands. I kept propelling myself forward and flew him straight into the ground. The impact knocked the air out of him, and the displaced ground buried his wings, leaving him immobile. I stood over him and smirked. The collision dazed him, but when his head cleared, desperation filled his eyes. He realized he was stuck, while I was free as a bird.

"It's over," I said as he frantically struggled to free his wings. Realizing he couldn't free his wings, he tried to grab me, to hurt me in some way, but I was just out of his reach. It was pitiful. It was hilarious. "Make peace with whatever demented god you worship." I shattered his left leg with the bottom of my foot. He yelled in pain, but it didn't stop me. I shattered his other leg, and he yelled again. I then placed my foot onto his chest, and slowly pressed down harder and harder. One by one, I could feel his ribs snap, and although he pushed against my foot with both of his hands, the pain he was enduring drained him of his strength. His screams became monstrous. Now, instead of entertaining me, his whelps of pain began to sicken me. I had had enough, and I placed my foot on his throat. I slowly crushed the life out of him, letting him savor his last moments. He struggled to breathe, gasped, and soon enough, I felt his neck snap under my weight. Before he died, if I hadn't known better, I would have sworn I saw him shed a tear, but I knew that was absurd. He was a black suit. They couldn't cry, only kill.

I found myself standing alone in an abandoned park. The breeze was serene. The atmosphere was liberating. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around slowly, feeling no fear, no suspicion, just peace. I found Shadow standing behind me. She was cleaned up. Her hair wasn't a mess, she wasn't covered in dirt, had no injuries or scars. My eyes ran up and down her, trying to register the fact that she was actually standing right in front of me. It was then that I realized there was one major difference.

"You... Your eyes..." My words studdered out of my mouth. I couldn't believe it, and she didn't do anything but smile at my  surprise. "You... You can see..." She leaned toward me, and placed her mouth right next to my left ear. She opened her mouth to whisper something. Then I heard it. 

"AUGH!" I cringed, grabbed my ear, and jumped away from her. The sharp piercing hum came out of her mouth. Her mouth hung open, and I saw the humanity drain from her eyes. They grew wider and wider. She looked insane, monstrous. She wandered toward me, the sound weeping from her mouth. I slowly backed away. I was stunned, and I didn't know what to do. She walked towards me at a constant, slow pace, but I gradually sped up. I was scared and I needed to get away. I couldn't look away from her though, and running backwards didn't end well. I tripped and fell onto my back. I yelped in pain because of my spine and wings, and when I looked up, she was directly in front of me, standing over me, emitting that horrid, haunting sound. Before I could react, she gripped my throat in her two hands, and lifted me off the ground, that sound still tearing at my mind. I felt my nose start to bleed, and watched the crimson river run from my face down her arms. "Please, Shadow. Don't..." I struggled to say between gasped. 

I woke up and quickly sat up, my entire body sweating profusely. I felt my own neck. "It was just a dream," I said with a sigh of relief. But then I felt a wet drop on my arm. I looked down, and saw a drop of blood. Then another drop, and another. It dripped from my face. I had a nose bleed.

I pulled myself off the ground as reality had slowly come back to me. I was in an old, abandoned factory. I had found this refuge shortly after the confrontation at the hospital. I needed some place to rest, and I doubt the cop cars arriving there would have helped. I ran and found this place a few miles down the road. I wandered to a rusted door, and stepped outside. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon. The door creaked, and slammed shut behind me. I looked at my wings. They had recovered quit well. My back was also feeling a lot better, although it still was not 100%. The cool morning air felt refreshing against my tired, beaten body, felt redeeming to my abused, exhausted mental state. I flapped my wings, letting the crisp, beautiful air slip through my feathers. It was one of the best feelings in the world. I smiled, and looked up at the sun. It broke through the clouds, and glistened against me. The warmth of the sun felt cleansing on my body, and purifying on my wings. It was a new day. It was my day. It was today. Today, I was going to find Shadow, I was going to save her.