"So let me get this straight, you're a vigilante, self proclaimed master of the light and dark arts, man of god and you're one hundred percent human?"
"That's correct."
Azrael gazed upon the man that most of the world knew as Alister Dante, with some skepticism. His eyebrows raised a bit, he was clearly taken aback by the mortal's knack of wearing so many metaphorical hats. A jack of all trades with a religious twist. Alister was indeed a unique specimen. It was easy to understand why his future self and the holy man became fast friends. Even with that in mind though, there was one burning question that needed answering.
"How can you follow the path of god and be a master of the light and dark arts?"
"One must acquire every asset they can use in their arsenal against evil. Sometimes the best way to defeat your adversary is to take a peek at their playbook and use their own tactics against them. You know, when merely praying doesn't do the trick."
There is laughter in Alister's voice as he states the last part. With a look of contemplation, Azrael gave a thoughtful nod.
"I'm sure that's where the vigilante part also stems from. The weapons, costume, traveling via rooftops - under the cover of darkness... and fighting style? Perhaps multiple ones?"
"Only aikido, muay thai, judo, hapkido, jeet kune do, kyudo, iaido and boxing."
"Ah... just those, eh?"
"Oh yeah and what I've learned for the purposes of wrestling in the XWF. That's actually come in handy rather recently. Dealing with your average class of common criminal, as might be expected."
"Props. You definitely sound like a human that got his shit together, in the valiant effort to keep the streets safe. Normally I'd worry about..."
"A human dashing across rooftops, fighting otherworldly evils and demons."
"Precisely. In your case, I must admit you might even be a match for me. Maybe. We'll have to test that theory out one day."
"Oh we have. You totally kicked my ass. Well, Azrael from this timeline did. It was quite the learning experience. With that being said, I'd be honored to fight you again. For training purposes of course. Definitely, not because you're from the past and I think that might be just the thing to give me the edge, that allows me to have the advantage that I need, in order to obtain the upper hand this time around."
"Haha! Fair enough. I'll make sure to commit to that before I return to my timeline."
"Most excellent. I look forward to it."
"I leave the two of you alone for five minutes and you guys are already planning a future date."
Rebel Star walked into her living room. Hair still wet from the shower, adorned in fresh clothes, that didn't carry even a spec of brick dust and debris. Much to her elation. After the skirmish with the cowboys and giant, green, glowing horse, Azrael had lifted an unconscious Rebel Star, from the sidewalk. The tremendous impact of slamming into a brick wall had knocked her clean out. Bringing her back to her apartment, was the kind thing to do in that situation. With Alister Dante in tow, for the simple fact that he was concerned and this gave him the opportunity, to chat with Azrael from the past. If only to bring him up to speed on the cowboys and the gigantic glowing horse. A topic that hadn't yet been breached, since soon after arriving at Rebel's apartment, Azrael felt the need to learn more about the mysterious stranger that took down an enormous beast, in less than three minutes. Hence the surprise when he learned that Alister was one hundred percent human.
"I am from the past."
"Yes. Even if the date were taking place right now, it would still be considered a future date for him."
Rebel's only response was to roll her eyes as she dropped down onto her overstuffed, fuzzy, hot pink sofa, next to Azrael.
"So are we going to address the important topics? Namely why are there rogue cowboys running around the streets of New York? And what's the deal with the huge glowing horse that manifests from a briefcase?"
"Duh. Naturally we planned on covering all that. We were simply waiting on you to begin that discussion. You weren't in any condition to take part in that though. I mean, first you were sleeping..."
"I was unconscious."
"Okay. I don't know how you sleep but the only way that I get it done is by being unconscious."
A mischievous smirk accented Azrael's face as a glisten of fire entered his eyes. Cocking his head slightly toward Rebel, he was obviously teasing her and wasn't disappointed or bothered one bit, when his words provoked her to send a punch to his ribs. That let him know that his ribbing worked. (Heh. Get it.)
"Psssh... is that all. I thought you were supposed to be some laboratory created super woman."
The mockery only caused her to narrow her eyes at Azrael as she turned away from him and placed her attention on Alister, stationed across the room on a black leather easy chair.
"Plan on filling us in on what you know, any time soon?"
"I get to talk now?"
"Geez! Don't you start."
Alister did his best to control the snicker that wanted to let itself be known.
"Apologies."
So he coughed instead and then cleared his throat.
"Um... yes, of course, I'll tell you everything that I know. Those cowboys are called 'Equestrians' and even though they look human..."
"They're not. Yeah, I picked up on that, pretty quickly actually."
"Correct. They're really shapeless masses that look a lot like silly putty or clay, when they're in their true form. At first, when I learned about them and what they genuinely are, I thought they were demons but now, I think there's more to them than that."
"Are you thinking that they're from a different dimension or another planet?"
"I'm not a hundred percent certain but I believe, if they were from another planet, they wouldn't seem so attached to this world. It's like they're tethered here, in a way. Which leads me to think that they're from another dimension. Another version of Earth, perhaps? Maybe even a hell world, if there is such a thing in existence?"
"There's quite a few dimensions that could be seen in that light."
"That's disheartening, to say the least."
"It just means that the next time we locate these cowboys, we need to follow them when they run off."
"We? Are you suggesting that we team up and fight these things together?"
"Absolutely. I thought that was the sole reason why you were sharing this information with Rebel and I?"
"I initially saw it more like a courtesy, so you know what you're dealing with, in case you run into them again but we can definitely team up. It could aid in the process of locating them and make it easier, over waiting for them to give a random appearance on the street."
"Woah. No one asked me if I wanted to do this. Who says that I want to hunt down clay creatures that make themselves look like cowboys?"
"You don't?"
Mega smile.
"I do. I really do. Just wanted to make you sweat a bit."
"There are better ways to accomplish that, you know?"
Azrael couldn't help himself, the words tumbled out before he could stop them. He had been so good up until that moment too. Clearing his throat, he attempted to quickly rectify the scenario.
"Alright. Looks like this is going to happen. We're going to team up and fight cowboys... that aren't really cowboys but in actual fact, beings made of putty. Excellent."
He could feel Rebel Star's eyes on him as she undoubtedly, tried to figure out what the fuck was going on with the crazy spaceman. But he didn't dare look at her. Luckily her focus upon him was brief before she turned her sights back to Alister.
"Wait. You never clarified something. What's the deal with the glowing horse?"
"There's more than one of them."
"Awesome! Of course there's more than one of those things! So what's the deal with those freaky beasties?"
"They're called 'Hellion Stallions'. The 'Equestrians' are their caretakers."
"I see. 'Hellion Stallions'. Did you name these creatures, perchance?"
"No. A friend did. You'll get to meet her soon enough. She's actually the one that brought my attention to all of this, I rescued her from the 'Equestrians'.
"Awww... cute. Almost like the spiritual Nightwing would do."
"Yes, well in any case, she had been observing them for quite some time, before she found herself on their radar. I would have been at a loss without the knowledge that she obtained."
"Does that make her, your Oracle?"
"She isn't the daughter of anyone involved in law enforcement and can walk of her own accord but if that connection makes you happy... sure?"
"It does."
Alister gave a quick look at his watch.
"Sad to say, I'm going to have to bid you both farewell, for now. I look forward to working with you though."
"Most assuredly, I too anticipate our future endeavors. I'll be certain to get in touch with you soon. To better prepare for the battle ahead. Question. Would you like a figurative 'lift' back to your abode? Sun's due shortly and it might get you a bit more shut eye time, before the mild mannered, priest in training portion of your duties begin."
"Yes. I would greatly appreciate that. Thank you."
With a nod, Azrael hopped up from his spot on the sofa and approached Alister. Extending his hand toward Alister, the spaceman and the enlightened warrior of illumination, shook hands. At the exact instant when the handshake ended, Alister vanished into thin air. A sudden departure granted by Azrael. The man from the stars, then turned back to Rebel. To his surprise, she was standing directly behind him, so that when he spun about, she was right there. This abrupt change in her position and vicinity caused Azrael to laugh.
"Uh... I probably should be off as well."
"Not a chance."
With very little effort, Rebel pushed Azrael back onto the sofa, where she swiftly met him there. It would seem, in the end temptation would win, after all. Though the spaceman had been stalwart in his struggle to not cross boundaries in time in that manner, he wasn't made of stone.
2x Universal Champion (First reign was less than a day though, lol. Due to Sebastian Duke cashing in his briefcase.)
2x Tag Team Champion
3x Triple Tag Team Champion
1x Television Champion
2x US Champion (Title retired during my second reign as champ.)
2x X-Treme Champion
1x Bombshell Champion
2x HMW Champion
2x SOTM