War God's Reckoning

Abort Mission

At another part of Erindor

Trinity stared down at the unconscious Jason, hatred and disgust curdling in her chest until it felt like acid. The man who dared to poison her brother. The parasite who drank from Xavier’s blood for four years and still wanted more.

She grabbed him by the collar like he weighed nothing and teleported. The world folded.

The cold wind against his face woke him up with a violent gasp. The first thing he saw was the black water beneath him, waves crashing and foaming like teeth.

His face turned white, horror consuming him whole. “No! Oooh!”

“Aiya!” Trinity sneered, and let go.

His screams tore through the night as he plummeted. A mighty splash buried him.

“Trash like you dared to hurt my master? I will have to remind you where the trash belongs.”

The sea was icy. It hit his lungs and stole his breath. Salt water rushed into his mouth, his nose burned. Despite being a good swimmer, his limbs felt like lead. They just wouldn’t cooperate.

It could be fear. It could be the nerve block Trinity had pressed into his spine before the drop. Despair, confusion, and terror braided together in his skull until he couldn’t tell which was which.

Something blinked a few meters away. Then again. A pale, curved shape cutting through the dark.

His heart jumped into his throat. A mighty fish? Shark!

Screams tumbled out of his lips, but the sea rushed in and muffled them into bubbles.

A low trumpeting sound vibrated through the water, deep enough to rattle his ribs. He began to struggle with all his might, thrashing, trying to claw his way to the surface. But the current was faster. The thing was faster.

He felt it before he saw it. Something clamped down on his little pinky. Bone gave way, pain exploded up his arm, white-hot, and horror followed right behind it.

Blood bloomed in the water, a dark cloud. Which meant more would come.

Fear consumed him, complete and total. ‘No. I can't die like this. I can't. I won't be fish feed.’

The more he gave himself that pep talk, the more shadows gathered. Fins cut the surface. The water began to churn around him, a mini tornado dragging him down, down, into cold and dark.

Just as his chest was about to burst and his vision grayed out, something yanked him upward. Violent and relentless.

He broke the surface coughing, choking, and found himself floating in the air again, suspended by nothing.

He looked up and saw Trinity’s ghost face, pale paint, black eyes, blood at the mouth, grinning down at him. A startled scream tore from his lips.

“Please, don't kill me. I will pay you. How much do you want? Ten times what whoever placed the bounty paid. Please spare me. I have money.”

The hatred in Trinity's heart turned her eyes several shades darker, until the black swallowed the white. Of course. The same words Nancy had begged with an hour ago. The rotten couple came from the same mold.

People like them who only see money as important were the worst. They thought everything had a price. Even a life.

“Money?” The ghost face replied in a childish pitch that made his skin crawl. “Is that money yours? Didn't you get it by sleeping around and scheming? I don't accept dirty money.”

“What do you mean?”

As if to answer his question, Trinity hurled him. He crashed against the rail of an anchored ship with a sound like a drum. Wood splintered. His ribs cracked.

Screams tumbled out, raw and broken, and he began to shed tears from the humiliation and pain. He was Jason Marlowe. How could he suffer such indignity?

Trinity made a disgusted face and wiped her hand on her coat like he’d dirtied her. She couldn’t believe Nancy had chosen this waste. This man who couldn’t endure the slightest hardship, over her master. Over the man who would have moved heaven and earth for her and did.

But a small, vicious part of her was grateful. If Xavier hadn’t seen their true colors now, he would have kept playing the dutiful husband. He would have kept bankrolling them while Nancy sneered behind his back and called him a simp in bed.

And this Jason would have kept reaping where he didn’t sow while whispering poison in her ear.

With their betrayal, his master would unseal his cultivation. He would return to his rightful place. The War God would walk again.

That didn’t mean she would let Jason and Nancy have an easy time though. She was the type that was unwilling to take a single loss. For daring to treat Xavier like that, she would return all the pain he felt to them with interest.

Jason vomited blood the second time Trinity flung him against the ship's rail. He hit, bounced, and collapsed, convulsing intensely. His vision swam.

Trinity grabbed him by the throat just as he was about to crash back into the water, yanking him up like a fish on a line.

Jason gasped, tears rolling down unbidden. He had never suffered like this all his life. Not physical pain. Not this kind of helplessness. Whoever this was, never intended on letting him die easily.

Her plan was probably to shatter all his bones first. To peel him open and see what was inside. Hatred, agony and despair, consumed him whole until he couldn’t tell them apart.

“Big brother, it seems you're not enjoying it. This won't do. Aren't you happy I'm playing with you?”

Jason gasped, and sputtered, blood and loose teeth spewing out onto the deck.

“Since you don't like this, let me take you somewhere you will enjoy.”

Dread coursed through his veins like lava, burning. His bladder went loose and hot.

In a minute, the world twisted and they found themselves atop a bustling center. Neon lights. Music. Men laughing.

“Bro, guess where we are…” The childish voice which should have sounded cute at other times were like Lucifer's echoes to Jason's ears.

“We're at the gay red light district in Zuba. Those rich uncles would love your round white butt a lot. They might even give you tips.”

Jason's heart sank through the floor and kept falling. If what he felt in the sea was despair, this was despair raised to power hundred. This was the deepest depth of hell, and there was no exit.

“No please. No. Anything but this.”

However, Trinity had already handed him over to the waiting man, a thick-set guy with gold chains and a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, and disappeared into the night air.

****

Back at the abandoned factory

Trinity landed beside Nancy with a soft thud.

After the water dunking torture, Nancy had fallen unconscious, her lips blue, her body shivering. Trinity scoffed and picked her up by the hair.

“I'm known for being fair. Since I sent your little lover to enjoy himself, I can't let you feel left out.”

She woke her up with a slap. The crack echoed off the concrete walls.

The first thing Nancy saw was the ghostly face hovering inches from hers, and her screams resounded all around, bouncing back at her.

“Let's go.”

Trinity reappeared above a bridge. Below, under the yellow streetlights, were tens of dirty male beggars sleeping on cardboard, curled around bottles. The smell hit her first.

A thought occurred to Nancy and her heart nearly exploded in her chest.

“No. Don't.”

“Brothers!” The childish voices rang out, bright and singsong, waking the beggars up. They sat up, blinking, confused. “The night is cold. Want some compan…”

Trinity’s watch began to vibrate at that point, a sharp, urgent buzz against her wrist. She pressed a button, answering the summon, eyes still on Nancy.

“Trinity, the boss has woken up. Abort mission. Return to the base now.”

The line cut. Trinity stared down at Nancy, who was sobbing and shaking. She clicked her tongue.

“Tch. Lucky you.”

She vanished, taking Nancy with her and leaving the beggars staring at empty air.