Chapter XXV: Ardente Vindicta

Chapter XXV: Ardente Vindicta

“Welcome… My Brothers”

“Lord Lucian” says a black man with his hair made of dreadlocks. His eyes are almost a turquoise color. He was wearing a white strap diagonally, from his left shoulder to his right waist, leaving out his right shoulder uncovered. Above his waist he has a red cloth strap put horizontally, surrounding his waist (and over the lower part of the white strap). A white pant accompanied his strange clothing.

“This is Eddy Barnes. We just call him Ed B” says Alexander who was wearing a black tuxedo.

Sitting on his ‘throne’ was Lucian. He is wearing a white leather cape, jointed in the front of his chest by what seems to be a circular logo with an eagle inscribed in the gold. Above his shoulders he has a gold plate that extends around one foot from it. In both of the gold plates the inscriptions (or drawing) of a sword are visible, and in the outer edges of the plate there seems to be spikes inscribed. He was totally dressed in white, from neck to toes. He also is wearing a gold gauntlet over both hands, with a Christian cross drawn in it and a snake surrounding it.

“This is the third in command… Gregori Swavsleski” says Alexander as a young man of about 20 years stands by his side. Well groomed brown hair adorned his head. His eyes were a sharp brown and he was wearing a black jacket, with cut off sleeves and behind it a white shirt. Along his outfit he also had black leather pants.

“I can just call you Gregori, right?” asks Lucian with a smile. “Yes, of course Sir” replies Gregori as he bows to Lucian.

“This is Adrian Maximus” continues Alexander.

Adrian was wearing a white tuxedo (and was the man that fought with Maxwell and Alphonse in the theater). Formal as ever, his tuxedo was the cleanest possible.

“Shiny” mockingly says Gregori looking at Adrian. “Well, thank you, at least I don’t look like a half-assed gangster” replies Adrian, still staring at Lucian.

“Nice to meet you” says Lucian. “The pleasure is mine my Lord” says Adrian.

“Well, up next is Mack Mach” continues Alexander with the introductions.

Gregori lets out a small laugh.

“Well young Gregori, aren’t you having fun today” says Mack, a man of about 40 years with a bushy moustache. He is bald in most of the front head, but at the sides, back and a bit above his head he has brown hair. He seems to be the most mature member of all the Iusta Vindicta. Strangely he was wearing a black ‘General’s’ suit, with stars and all that.

“Mack is our main connection to the government my Lord. He’s a top ranking General in the U.S Militia” says Alexander.

“Interesting. Are you a GenoBIO too?” asks Lucian. “Yes Sir. Though I may look older than the rest, I can assure you very well I am a GenoBIO” says Mack with a cocky smile.

“‘General Mack Mach’” mockingly says Gregori who then bursts into laugh. Incredibly, this causes a smile in Lucian.

“You know Gregori, I am not in the best mood today” says Mack, still keeping his cocky smile. “Gregori, shut up for a second” says Alexander. “Alright…” replies Gregori.

“What other surprises are in store for me, Alexander?” asks Lucian.

“Well, we were waiting fo-”

“For me?” asks a feminine voice.

From the door appears a beautiful young woman, maybe of about 22 years. Her eyes are sharp and piercing, and are accompanied by their jet black color. Long black hair falls almost to her waist, shooting out a beautiful glimmer. Her white and soft skin is like touching recently fallen snow and her bright red lips are tempting to any men. Her beauty is undeniable, all in a 6’1 tall package wearing a red skin jacket, leaving her belly bottom exposed (and also her almost-D-sized breasts). Her pants are also red, similar to the jacket, and are very tight. In front of her forehead a small diamond shaped ruby is incrusted.

”Ruphir has arrived, my Lord,” says Alexander.

“The hot one has arrived,” says Gregori. “Yes, I have,” she replies with a tempting voice.

“Quite a beauty, yes… indeed,” exclaims Lucian, also dazzled by the woman’s beauty.

“Quite an entrance,” says a cocky-smiling Helga. “We call her the Blood Soaked Diamond,” says Alexander staring at the woman in front of him.

“Is your special ability as a GenoBIO to dazzle men?” asks Lucian, obviously surprised by the attracting woman.

“Oh no, my Sir. My abilities are others,” she replies.

“Well my sir, all of the GenoBIO leaders are here, now we need to discuss our course of action,” says Alexander, suddenly waking up from the dream caused by Ruphir.

The seven members of the Iusta Vindicta are now reunited, they who have the power to defy any other power in the whole wide world.

The eoom quickly turns dark and a holographic image of Dwayne, transformed as Crnobog, appears in front of them.

“We have a small rock in our path. As many of you know, there is a man that considers him a lame ‘super hero’… the name the media gives him is ‘Demon Hero’, but we all know his true codename: Crnobog,” says Alexander.

“My big brother…” whispers Lucian. “Indeed,” says General Mack.

“It is obvious what our first task should then be, right?” says Alexander.

“No it is not,” says Lucian, standing from his ‘throne’, “the first assumption would be to kill him, but that is wrong. What first must be done is the annihilation of the other group of GenoBIO’s trying to mess our plans. My big brother can be ignored; he alone doesn’t have the power to stop an organization as us. He’s powerless, but you might not notice it now,” he continues, staring at each one of the members of the Iusta Vindicta, “First, the weakness of any human should be injected in him: Fear. As a human he must have something precious to him, and that must be stolen. He will also care about the people of New York, so fear must be injected… the fear of losing something. As a human, his weakest form, we must attack him by any side… He who has grown with humans will share their same weaknesses, and thus… he can fall to temptation,” he continues, speaking louder and now staring at Ruphir, “we must also cause greed in him, cause hatred and angst, and then give him the final stroke,” concludes the Lord of the Abyss.

“We are perfect as we don’t share his weaknesses, he who has been raised by normal humans. We will crush my big brother!,” yells Lucian, closing his fist with strength.

“As you know my Lord, I have access to many classified documents,” says Mack, staring at the Lord, “I know who he is. I know where he lives, where he studies, and who his precious ones are. We have been keeping tabs on him for a long time,” concludes the General.

- - - - - - - -

Two days had already passed since the first reunion of the complete Iusta Vindicta, but everything in NNYC seemed as normal as ever.

“Here, take this Alexa” says Dwayne, handing the young woman a pink-colored cotton candy. Accompanying them was Chloe, also devouring the blue-colored cotton candy Dwayne had bought her a few minutes ago.

“So…” says Alexandra, “why the sudden urge to invite me out?”. “Why ask?” replies Dwayne, staring at her while in the background the colossal view of the Empire State Building makes presence as they cross the 5^th Avenue. “And of all places invite me here…” she says, staring at the huge building in front of her.

“Well, first of all, Chloe wanted to see more of the city… and I felt like taking you along,” says Dwayne. “How romantic,” she sarcastically replies.

That day though, there was a huge screen in front of the Empire State, advertising the coming of Christmas. Strangely, no snow had fallen on NNYC, and it was cold but not as cold as past years.

Suddenly, the huge screen begins to flicker and a huge screeching sound comes from the speakers.

“Shi…” whispers Alexandra.

Then on the screen the face of a man appears. His long blonde hair and white skin…. That man on the screen was none other than Lucian. Increasing the surprise, almost every Holographic set was being intervened by the signal, and all screens were showing Lucian.

“To Crnobog, the so called ‘demon hero’, I am sure you will be hearing this message. I have to warn you, that in ten minutes, three underground subway tracks that cross the Hudson River from Manhattan to Brooklyn will explode, thus flooding a big part of the city’s subway system. Millions will die and the whole city will be paralyzed. What will you do? This short warning has been issued by the Iusta Vindicta, and your younger brother…” says the message with Lucian smiling at the end. All screens flicker and return to their normal programming.

“What…” whispers Dwayne in shock. “Dwayne,” says Alexandra staring at him.

Dwayne was in pure shock, not believing what he had just heard. “Dwayne, wake up!” yells Alexandra. “Alexa…” whispers Dwayne in complete shock.

People were already murmuring. Not far from them was a police car.

“Shit! You heard that McCaulthy!” says Sergeant Morales. “Yes I did sir,” whispers McCaulthy in shock. “This shit ain’t working!” yells Morales at the radio. It wasn’t working, it was just a fuss. All was static. “Holy crap… this could be worst than that God forsaken missile” says Morales.

Crossing the street, Alexandra was trying to get some sense into a paralyzed Dwayne.

”You need to do something!” yells Alexandra. Then, like waking up, Dwayne twitches his eyes.

“In the nine minutes or so I have remaining I can’t defuse the bombs, I need to stop the trains and get as many people out as possible” says Dwayne. “That’s my boy! Now go!” yells Alexandra.

But then a loud explosion is heard. Dwayne quickly turns around and sees cars on fire and flying in the air, about to fall to the pavement. In the middle of the avenue was a man, a hulky black guy with short hair and a scar that crosses his nose, with his huge chest exposed and black pants. He had a chain on his hand and was staring at Dwayne.

“It can’t be,” says Dwayne. “We oughta play little man!” yells the man as he slowly walks towards Dwayne, with the fire surrounding him. His smile was a psychotic one… he was a sadistic murderer.

A battle against time itself has begun…

Authors Note: The special 'feature' that was going to be added today (which was an illustration of the Iusta Vindicta reunited) has been delayed until further notice, when our artist (Anna!) has some free time and can do it.