Carpe Diem *HF* Chapter 7
By StevenBlueKing
“Surely now is the time to attack!” Diamopher roared, his eyes becoming embroiled in flames. Raito glared at him, a look of disgust across his face.
“Silence,” he growled, “you are merely the hired muscle, I am the leader. Don’t question my ways. We will strike soon my friend, and devastation will engulf the Purple Hellfire Club.”
When Ian struck Chameleoness, a small battle immediately erupted, the Illuminati members banding together and raining down hard on the Purple Hellfire Clubs assembled Inner and Outer Circle. Luckily, the members of the PHC present were amongst the most powerful and best fighters to grace the surface of the earth, each one engaging their own unique abilities and skills to get on top of the situation. Salvanza had to draw a quick breath of disbelief at how swift everyone was moving. He wasn’t exactly useless in a battle, he had enough firepower and fighting skills, but he was still astonished at how well everyone reacted. They seemed so confident, so powerful. He knew he had a long way to go until he got to that point.
“Head’s up!” Joseph shouted in a friendly tone, as he grabbed Gentil with his long tresses, pulling him with all the force he could muster, tossing the mighty giant around and releasing him, sending the gigantic bulk towards the Purple Paladin. Salvanza panicked for a moment, darting out of the way, before mustering up two concussive blasts of energy from the palms of his hands, exploding them with full force into Gentil’s chest, sending him to the ground. The young man smiled, turning to Joseph who hovered a few feet above the ground. “Good work Roberto,” the former White King said, looking at Salvanza with his warm, over bearing eyes. Smiling back, Salvanza formed two orbs of solar energy, firing them on Gentil to make sure the mammoth was down for the count.
Unannounced, Cherub plunged himself into Joseph’s back, his cast iron arms wrapping in a suffocating grasp around him, dragging him to the ground, kicking out with a clawed foot, the razor like nails digging into Salvanza’s chest, knocking him to the ground. “You people will learn not to mess with the Illuminati,” Cherub growled.
“Mess with this!” Joseph screamed as his body turned intangible in a blaze of pulsating light, allowing him to slip from the attackers rigid grasp, teleporting just in front of Cherub, allowing him to send a barrage of kicks into the demon’s face, before morphing his hand into the blade of a sword, plunging it deep into the Illuminati’s neck. A trickle of oily green oozed from the wound, before Joseph removed the blade, driving in it into the creature’s abdomen, pulling it up towards his head, tearing through muscle, skin and bone as if it was paper. Finally, he yielded the weapon, allowing Cherub’s mutilated body to burst into flames. Joseph hovered a few feet above the ground. “Yup, you sure showed me,” he giggled.
“No matter where you run, my wrath will rain upon you!” Electro shouted as he darted across the sky, sheets of lightning spinning around him. From his palms he fired bolts of electricity upon the ground, making Felicity Ryan summon a weak magical force field. For the past two minutes she had been hounded by him, and now she was starting to get a little annoyed. Whispering an incantation under her breath, she suddenly burst into a ray of intense solar energy, shooting up into the sky, torching Electro’s skin and singing his costume, effectively taking him out of the fight. Felicity sighed as she returned to normal. Sure, her method of attack was effective, but she always preferred to get more ‘hands on’ when it came to fighting. But for now, she knew it was important they end the battle as soon as possible and report back to Steven.
Without warning, the ground underneath the PHC members suddenly exploded with an intense blast, smashing them through the window of a bookstore, sending them hurtling into the rubble. Grotesque smiled, as he summoned his ability to manipulate the earth, causing the foundations of the building to become weaker and weaker.
“Damn, this place is gonna collapse!” Blackfire said as she melted her way from beneath the rubble, “and by the looks of things, there are a LOT of civilians inside of here.”
“ENOUGH!” Felicity screamed, as bolts of mystical energy emitted from her frame, striking the rest of the Illuminati members down in their positions, “this battle is OVER!” She teleported out of the wreckage back onto the street, as shards of rock and concrete from the now unstable building rained down on her. With a mutter, she summoned a spell, cementing the foundations back into place. Then, with a look of total fury, the sorceress turned to the Illuminati members. “Want some more?” she hollered.
Top Heavy winced as he began to open a vortex underneath each of the Strike Force. “They’re getting away!” Epyon called as he began to rise to his feet.
“Let them go, we need to search the wreckage for casualties,” Rage declared, “Joseph, Felicity, gather our fallen teammates. The rest of us will free the injured.”
His eyes smouldered with uncharted anger as the Strike Force entered the chamber, their costumes torn, their bodies bloodied and broken. Trailing upfront was Top Heavy, the commander. Raito’s hands dug hard into the polished metal on the arms of his throne chair, Diamopher standing behind him leaning his elbow on the chair, a brooding look covering his face. Raito’s jaw tightened as the Strike Force stood in front of him, Top Heavy kneeling before him. “Grant us merc…” Top Heavy began.
A bolt of intense tangible energy shot from Raito’s hand, impaling through Top Heavy’s stomach and pinning him to the wall. The Illuminati leader rose to his feet, his flowing black robes wafting around him. “MERCY!” he screeched, “I shall show you NO mercy. None of you!” He unleashed a wave of energy that knocked the whole team to their knees. “You were defeated by a bunch of amateurs,” he bellowed, “now you must all pay.” The pupils of his eyes flashed green and within mere moments, the whole team was reduced to ashes. With a satisfied grin, Raito returned to his throne.
“Now you have decimated your ranks,” Diamopher declared loudly, “mind telling me what we are supposed to do now?” As usual, the demon wore a large, over bearing smile, which seemed to cut through to a person’s very soul. Such an expression however failed to faze the Illuminati leader.
“Instead of relying on incompetent fools, we shall have to destroy the PHC ourselves.”
“Now you’re talking my language!” Diamopher roared.
“How did the mission go?” Steven said as he shot up in the hospital bed as Rage walked into the dimly lit ward, Joseph and Felicity trailing behind her. Despite his best attempts, the King looked terrible; his hair was all out of place, his eyes drooped with dark patches and a steady shaking had started to occur throughout his body.
“The mission went…. okay,” Rage stammered as he came closer to her friend, “Morte, Xeus, Toby, DarkWolf, Monet, Rogue and Nate are all recuperating very well in the ward next to you. No lasting damage. Morte is actually fully healed but Dr. Morgan has requested she just stay for a few more hours so he can run some tests. Of course, our Rook is protesting vigorously about it.”
Steven smiled as he pictured Sabrina having a verbal slamming match with the doctor. Rage interrupted his thoughts. “However, we have found something very strange.”
“Do tell,” Steven said as he settled back down into the comfortable hospital bed, his attention focused on the Purple Queen.
“Well,” Rage began, “the battle pretty much tore up one of Manhattan’s busiest shopping streets, and in one of the bookstores, we found the attendant seriously injured. On first glances, we thought it was Shadow, but as we approached, we realised it wasn’t Shadow. But the resemblance is uncanny. And Felicity and Joseph have something to say about this.”
“They do?” Steven quizzed, his piercing gaze falling on the two figures from his past, “care to elaborate?”
“You aren’t going to like this, but you have to know,” Felicity said, “the boy we found. It is Kyle’s twin brother, David.”
“WHAT?” Steven screamed as he rose up sharply in bed, his telekinetic powers springing to life instinctively.
“Calm down,” Joseph soothed, a quiver of fear in his voice, “Felicity was carrying twins and when she gave birth and ‘died’ the two were seperated. Kyle was adopted, but David was but into an orphanage. We tried to locate him but failed, so we thought that maybe he had died, so we forgot about him. We didn’t want to tell you because we knew you’d be mad.”
“Mad?” Steven screamed, “MAD? I’LL SHWO YOU MAD!”
“Calm down!” Rage shouted, pushing Steven to the bed, “you are in no condition for a slanging match. No just calm down. I think you two should go.” Obediently the two of them scuttled out of the room. Charlotte turned to Steven.
“Oh my goodness, I have a son,” Steven stammered, “how is he? Was he badly hurt? I must see him.” The King blurted all at once.
“He’ll be okay, he’s in a private ward. For now, I want you to just calm down and have some rest. Okay?” Rage questioned.
“Okay,” Steven replied, “but I must speak with him when he comes around. There is much to discuss.”
End Chapter Seven
Steven Booth
King of the Blue Hellfire Club
Former Red Bishop
Former Black Headmaster
Rage's Partner In Crime
Insanity Midget
President of the Frank Sinatra Association
The Blue Hellfire Club
The Blue Hellfire Club Role Play
Song Quote of the Month: What If God Was One Of Us?
If God had a name, what would it be and would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with Him and all his glory,
What would you ask if you had just one question?
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home
If God had a face, what would it look like and would you wanna see?
If seeing meant that you would have to believe,
In things like Heaven, and in Jesus and the saints,
And all the prophets
And yeah, yeah, God is good,
And yeah, yeah, God is great,
And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home,
Back upto Heaven all alone,
Nobody callin' on the phone,
'Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome