Finding Grace

[Living_Hellfire]

Talos Island, circa May 2025, 0138hrs.

 

Thunder rolled and a streak of burnt orange flame scorched away the clouds above Circle Island, tearing away the cloud cover.

 

It had been 27 hours since the girl had gone missing and The Freakshow looking skyward knew precisely what had come. They hustled towards the the burnt out shelter, scurrying down the porthole into the dark. They whispered and chastised each other as their metal augmentations clanked against the rock in their haste. The world shook above them as the Angel on Fire descended.

 

The four Freaks huddled behind rocks, waiting in ambush and braced as the sound of shearing metal raced down the tunnel towards them, followed by a rush of warm, dry air.

"This time!" Whispered the Chief Smasher "Listen for the footsteps, then we'll blow the mountain." The three others nodded, loosening their grips.

There were no footsteps.

A whirlwind of flame engulfed the little nexus of crossroads, devouring the four Freaks before moving on down the tunnel, a tattered cape snapping in the updraft.

The tunnels twisted and roiled, often turning back on themselves. He revised the map in his head many times before finally arriving at the terminal end of the cavern system. It was wide and vast, stretching up hundreds of meters with various, offset platforms upon which were crouched all manner of metal enshrined and enhanced villainy. They opened fire.

 

Lead rounds were superheated and splashed against black, armored plates as Hellfire ascended through the central column of the stone chamber, plasma bolts were deflected by a Celestial Blade and splashed against the rock walls and back into the attackers, sending them sprawling and lifeless. A cone of flame engulfed three Freaks as they cowered behind a steel barricade, forgetting that steel can melt and burn. A single beam of concentrated flame sliced its way through a Juicer Chief as he took to the air, sending his composite body parts crashing to the earth. A blast of kinetic heat slammed into a Champion Swiper as he leaped off a ledge to meet the ascending vengeance and fell, scorched and almost unrecognizable.

The Angel on Fire reached the apex of the stone column. "Ye ken who I am. Release the girl." He floated there, wreathed in flame, the corporeal embodiment of wrath.

"Oh, you are sumthin', ain't ye?" Cried out a voice. The thumping of footseps echoed. "Ye've a rot, we're the cure!" The voice bounced around the stone column. The violence had ended for the moment, the only sound was the crackling of flame, the only bouquet that of cigar smoke.

"Yer delayin'. Where's the girl?"

And then she screamed and The Angel on Fire answered.

 

Mizzr_Skibs was an enormous Tank Swiper, a boss chief in his own right and a fearsome combatant and he knew it. He snapped one mallet hand down and slammed his feet, sending a shower of rock debris down into the depths of the mine. He swung the titanic hammer at the streak of Hellfire as it approached and the resulting explosion shook the earth. The remaining Freakshow clambered to their feet and fled as Mizzr_Skibs regained his footing and stared at his adversary for the first time. A man floated above him, copper hair lifting in the updraft, blackened armored plates against a burnt orange nimbus that blazed angrily against creation. Eyes full of flame and anger set into a bearded, square jawed visage, teeth bared.

"How many times must I remind ye feckin' gobshites that this is my city. My people." Asked The Legendary Living Hellfire. "Again and again ye defy me an' select amongst these mortals the most vulnerable, the most fragile an' the most in need. Now... " He paused as he floated above the mechanical monstrosity. "Where is the girl?!"

 

There's always a moment where decisions are made. The girl cried out, the Tank Swiper charged and The Legendary Living Hellfire swung the gladius gifted to him by his father and the battle was over. Thunder rolled over Talos Island and shook the cavern. The sweet smell of cigar smoke filled the top level of the cave structure and there was the soft click of hard-soled loafers on stone.

"Are ye there, lass?" He called out softly. "Grace?"

There was a whimper in the dark. "Jes' come tae me, lass, it's quite alright, quite alright, indeed. Jes' follow me voice."

She crawled out of a tiny alcove, yellow shirt, blue shorts with her hair in a ponytail. "Are you... ?"

"Aye, lass... Jes' so." He puffed the cigar, the blue smoke encircling his fedora like a halo. The Man in Black stepped out of the shadows left by the burning wreckage of his entrance and grinned. "We've a long way tae go tae get ye back tae yer family, so we'd bes' nae take too much time."

"Okay." She stopped short of the carnage.

 

"Best nae tae look, lass."

 

"Can you hold my hand?"

 

The soft snapping of burning tobacco filled the air, like a pause in reality before The Man in Black answered. "Nay, I cannot, but if'n ye jes' close yer eyes an' follow me cigar, ye'll find yer way out. Jes' listen tae me footsteps an' ye'll be alright."