When I turned, I nearly toppled back. There... a woman stood before me. She was no one I knew and yet, merely looking at her told me everything that I needed to know. Captivated within the realm of her eyes as she stared back at me. She had a certain aura about her that seemed to radiate an endless supply of power. So much so, that the very air around her, seemed to waver and fluctuate. An intense force that felt like it pulled everything towards it, while expelling it all back out, simultaneously. When in reality, nothing moved at all. Still that is the sensation that she left you with.


To witness her was to know the brink of a bottomless chasm.


What Friedrich Nietzsche meant, when he spoke of staring into the abyss. The nothing void, staring back, burning itself into you, embedding into your very essence. Searing straight down to your core. While you gazed upon it. Unable to move. Caught in the profound, everlasting connection, where body, mind and soul, intertwined and became one. The merger left you raped, weak and trembling. Barely able to stand of your own volition; however, also unable to collapse. Imprisoned between those two fields, powerless to do anything more but bask in the cold, nothingness that was pure oblivion. For she was the quintessential aspect of precisely that and so much more.


I tried to open my mouth, attempted to speak, to give some sort of demand or say anything at all really, yet I couldn't seem to manage to accomplish that task. It was as if my mind and mouth, became two entities that were foreign to one another. Incapable of sending and receiving signals from each other. So I simply watched and waited as she slowly approached. Hoping... nay, praying that somehow, someway the trance that seemed to have overtaken me, would be released. Graceful were her movements while she walked, her eyes never leaving mine, our gazes locked in a shared stare as she appeared to study me. Ever so slightly turning her head, the woman seemed like someone flipping through the pages of a book, while they leisurely skimmed the content. It felt immensely intrusive and disturbing, almost as if she could see my thoughts and read my mind. She pierced the veil of both conscious and subconscious and little by little, pulled back the layers, examining every slice. Piece by piece and inch by inch. It left me feeling very exposed, vulnerable, almost naked but there was nothing that I could do to stop it. Which was the worst part of all.


She smiled when she finally neared me, her black tresses catching the glisten of the moonlight, that shone down from above. Ruby lips positioned perfectly on a pale white mask, set over the sparkling violet embers that were her eyes. She was really quite magnificent to behold, in a world ending, soul devouring sort of way. If I hadn't been engulfed with the sheer magnitude of her presence, I might have been overwhelmed by her beauty alone.


"Donovan Blackwater, at last we finally meet."


It was as if whatever had me ensnared in its grasp, released and with that freedom I was granted my faculties, once more. Translation: No longer transfixed and held captive by an invisible force, I was able to think, speak and move of my own accord.


"You know my name, yet I have no idea who you are. Who are you? How do you know who I am? More importantly, what the fuck just happened? I felt..."


"Like you were suppressed by an overwhelming weight, while you could do nothing but submit to my will."


"Yes, exactly that."


"I get that a lot. Whether the beings subjected to my presence want to indulge such sensations or not. In other words, it's not them... or you, it's me. More specifically, this."


She revealed an amulet on a silver chain that had been hidden away, by her clothes and hair. The jewel encased upon it was so dark purple, it was nearly black and within it sparkled a million silver specs, glistening sporadically under the glow of the moonlight as she held it out.


"It's called the "Soul of the Universe" and it grants any and all that wield it, the power over anyone or anything, she or he, desires. Not solely one, singular object or vessel either. Worlds, galaxies, the universe as a whole, if that be what the wearer wishes, then it is so. All that fall under the realm of that want are powerless to do anything, beyond become mere possessions."


"That is..."


"Too much power for one being to possess. I've had it for years now, centuries actually. Maybe even longer. When you're as old as I, time becomes subjective. Anyway, if I wanted to enslave the universe, I would have done it ages ago and yet, I haven't. I enjoy the impulsive, randomness of free will and the improbability of chance, just as much as the next being. It would be a shame to disrupt or influence that for the prospect of eternal, mindless servitude. On top of that, it would be incredibly boring."


"Then why have it or keep it with you, at all?"


"For moments like this, darling. When I want an audience with an unwilling party. I wanted to captivate your attention and that's precisely what occurred."


"A lot more than that happened."


"Right. That would be the combined connection of my abilities with the amulet. I have the power to see into beings, peer into their very essence, if you will. See what makes them who they are and what secrets they may have tucked away. Buried deeply beneath the surface, far beyond the sights of even themselves and everything else along the way. In short, there are no mysteries that can't be cracked, no secret that won't be divulged, when I look into your eyes, all will be revealed. That's the catch though. So few are willing to look another straight in the eyes these days, especially me... I've built a sort of reputation throughout the universe over the years. Beings know to cast their eyes away, when I enter a room."


"Gee... I wonder why?"


"Was that sarcasm? How delightful. You remind me of your father. Always quick with the tongue... in more ways than one."


"Aaaahhh.... okay, I feel like we're swaying off topic here and venturing towards areas, that I really don't need or want to know about. You know Azrael, that's great..."


"Know him! I more than know him! We were lovers, companions and partners in crime. Warriors standing, back to back, fighting against... well, everyone. The universe and all that lay within it, whatever crossed our path or stood in our way, did not stay that way for very long. We traveled the universe, navigating through the solar systems and exploring planets. Every moment of every day was an adventure and the adventure was ours. He was my burning, fiery incandescent sun and I was his shimmering stars and radiant moon. For a spell and then, much like what happens with everyone that falls victim to the charms and wiles of Azrael Erebus, I became obsolete."


"Through no fault of his own, he can't help it or stop it, not even if he tried, that is simply the way he is. Spontaneous and passionate, like an uncontrollable flame, to love him is to know that one day, you will burn and drift away like ash. Purely metaphorically speaking, it means one day something might trigger his attention or sway his eye and then, what was once very important, crucial even... just isn't anymore. Then he does what he does best in that situation. He runs away. Azrael has never been one for farewells. I'm certain he's garnered an almost endless list of individuals that understand that by now. Both lover, enemy and friend alike."


"I know my father, he cares immensely about everyone and everything, he would never toss someone away like useless trash because he got bored and then just pick up and leave."


"Oh yes, of course. Azrael has a heart as big as the universe itself and he cares tremendously, often times to a fault. Forever putting others before himself. No favor is too much to ask or task too great, if help is needed, he is there, without fail. Willing to do anything and everything that he can to aid the situation, to the full extent of his abilities."


She smiled.


"I once seen him tie a rope around his waist and dive into the center of an active wormhole to save someone. The rope obviously being his tether back. It was madness in its finest, highly improbable and should never have worked. He was insane to merely even think of trying such a foolish idea."


"What happened?"


"What always happens, he saved the day and sauntered away with a smirk. Like he got one over on the universe, yet again. As if it were all a big joke and he was having the last laugh."


"Yeah, I've seen him do that one, quite a few times."


"Everyone has. He's a showman like that. That's why even his enemies are enamored and awestruck by him. Not only does he save the day but he does it with style. Quite like no one else could. He is a hero though, that much is true and beings respect him for it. Even the ones that hate him, respect him for what he's done and continues to do."


"That's why I can't believe that he..."


"Could be a selfish jerk, impetuous and obliviously carefree. That's because you're his son. You had a mother though, what do you suppose happened there?"


"He abandoned her but it wasn't his fault. He got trapped inside a golden rock, he was imprisoned within it for years, he never knew my mother got pregnant or that we even existed. Not till recently anyway."


"How do you suppose he got trapped inside that golden rock?"


"I don't know. He doesn't even know. I assume it just happened. Something tricked him perhaps, caught him off guard?"


"Sweetheart don't be naive, it doesn't suit you. When does anything catch that man off guard? Hmmm? When isn't he thinking, four... five, twelve steps ahead of everyone else? The universe thinks he's dead but I know he isn't because he's too tricky for that. There is always a backup plan, a strategy, some way to avoid or cheat the inevitable. He's been doing it so long, it's like second nature to him by now. Where his reckless ambition gets him into trouble his rationale always gets him out"


"That is how I know he's alive and why I know he wasn't caught off guard and captured inside of a golden rock. Well, he may have gotten himself encased inside of a golden rock, I'll grant him that, your father tends to get himself into the type of trouble that no one in the universe, could or would be able to do but it wasn't by chance or random misfortune. He had to have done something, to bring that fate upon himself. Gone after some artifact or ventured where he shouldn't have bothered treading, all on a whim of course. Ultimately leading into him getting caught up within a set of circumstances, that he didn't predict because he was operating hastily, with only the thrill of the adventure guiding his way."


"So you're saying, he got himself stuck inside of a golden rock?"


"Yes, that's absolutely what I am saying. He did find his way out, did he not? That's how you got to meet him... to know him, correct?"


"Yes but that happened by chance. Some kid was given the rock by a troll and.... oh my god, he planned that?!?! Really? That's so weird and convoluted! Why? Why would he do that? How would he know to do that? Fuck but it makes so much sense. It's like how he put himself inside Rocket's... oh crap, I'm saying way too fucking much and I still don't really know who you are, besides being an ex-girlfriend of my father's."


"That's alright, dear. My name is Zelena. Keep talking. He's inside Rocket's?"


Suddenly it all made sense. This was never about me. This was about Azrael. She was using me to get to my father. First she lured me here by abducting the ones I love, then she captivated my attention, found a common ground with me and told me her tale to get me to empathize with her, all under the pretenses of locating Azrael. And I almost told her like it was nothing because I was on some sort of spiral, trying to understand my father's mad-cap sense of reasoning and logic. Oh she's good. She's really, really good. And I am such a fucking idiot. I can't believe I almost fell for that shit. But I didn't though. No, I did not. So there's still time to fix this. To salvage what was almost destroyed, thus making it all done for naught.


All I have to do is outwit a mind reader, that travels across the universe with a crystal that gives her the power to have whatever she desires.


Wait.


If she could have whatever she wanted and see into my thoughts, then she would already have the information that she needed. Unless my father found a way to shield that knowledge from prying eyes, regardless of who wielded it. It's impossible but nothing that Azrael has ever done dwelt in the realm of reason or reality. It would explain why she needed me to tell her where he was and why she didn't already know, despite having the ability to discover the answer on her own. For him to do that, must mean he knew Zelena would come looking for him, making her more than a lovelorn ex-girlfriend. She must be some kind of nemesis or threat that he anticipated.


"Did I say Rocket's... I meant rocket. He's inside of a rocket... that got shot randomly into space, somewhere. Destination unknown. That's why we're searching for him, my brothers and I. We don't have the coordinates because he failed to write them down before he left."


"You're lying."


"Yeah, I am. However, you're being a bit deceitful yourself, considering the fact that you would already know how to find Azrael, without me telling you... if he wanted you to know. Which I'm gathering that must mean, he doesn't. So it's really more like tit for tat. When you think about it."


"Clever little half-breed. You figured it out. You know, I could always make you tell me. I do still have your wife shackled to the roof. That collar around her neck, it's preventing her from using her abilities. Meaning, if I were to hurt her, those wonderful water elemental powers of healing she's got, they'd be rather useless. Not to mention the fact that I could use my amulet, to make your son run head first off this building, if I so choose."


Zelena paused momentarily and then shook her head as she silently snickered to herself.


"However, I choose... not to do that. No, I think I'll have my fun another way and merely, find a different route to Azrael. You see, as much as I loved him, I hate him. Oh how I loathe him and his arrogance. I want to burn the heart right out of him and make him suffer the pain of a trillion deaths. Destroy him - mind, body and soul. What better way to begin, than with his children. His greatest and most powerful weakness. Starting with... The Brothers Blackwater!"


She smirked at me as I stepped back, expecting an attack I put up a forcefield, around myself and my family.


"By the sanctioned gods. Don't be boring, if I was going to attack you, I would have done it by now and you would be dead. No, I want to end - The Brothers Blackwater, to crumble the foundation of all three, simultaneously. Since you are their leader of sorts, the one who valiantly protects them and rushes to their aid, at a moments notice. Essentially, the very glue that holds it all together and keeps everything in place, despite your many weaknesses. The destruction process is fairly simple. To destroy The Brothers Blackwater, I do this."


That's when Zelena pulled a tiny remote from her pocket and pressed a button. I heard the explosion before I even knew what happened. Followed by my son crying. I spun around to see what transpired and instantly froze as my mind utterly snapped at the horror of which I beheld. Abigail's head was gone. The collar around her neck, it must have had some type of explosive inside and when Zelena pushed the button on that remote, it caused the collar to detonate. The sight of the headless corpse of my wife and my son covered in her blood was overwhelming and horrifying and the very image, seared itself inside of my skull.


Even more overpowering was the intense fury and rage that seethed and churned within me. Leaping to my feet, I turned towards Zelena, only to find her gone. Vanished, without a trace. The rooftop was empty, save for me, my son and Abigail's corpse. Tears stung my eyes as I screamed to the heavens, collapsing to my knees. Beneath me, the Earth shook and trembled violently, like an earthquake threatened to shatter it apart and leave it in ruins. As an intense wave of force came uncontrollably surging forth, from my entire body. There was only one word smoldering in my mind at that point.


REVENGE!

Donovan Blackwater
Former 1x...