Persona: Hero x Villain System

Chapter 97: Dealing with Contracts 

Bang. Bang. Bang. 

Carl unloaded his service weapon. The man practically hovered across the floor, inhumanly spreading at him. Putting a final bullet into the forehead of the horror before instincts born of combat, he dived out of the way.

The creature tumbled across the desk, entangling its gangly limbs in phone cords and cable before coming to a stumbling halt of limbs and electronics. 

Hissing inhumanly, its jaw unhinges to prominent canines extending further. 

Jessica Jones exploded through the windows and rolled across the ground before coming up into a crouch as shards of glass rained around her.

She was soaking wet and panting. Having heard the gunshots, she had attempted to fly again but hadn’t made it before the memories came back, hampering her powers 

She canvassed the room before seeing the creature. She let loose a growl as she gripped a metal desk with the ease of a child flicking a Lego and smashed the creature through the cheaply plastered walls. 

Carl jumped back to his feet, his lower back screaming at him to lie back down and play dead; he expertly released the spent magazine and reloaded, eyes alert. 

“Get out of here. Get Special Agent Misty on the line. We need a kill squad.” 

Jessica shouted at him as she leaped through the hole in the wall, her fist balled, and arm cocked back into a telegraphed haymaker that any normal person would see coming a mile away, thankfully, the creature wasn’t normal, her blow connected, sending the creature flowing back like it was hit by a truck, it’s gaunt appearance belayed it’s actual weight, it’s solid frame rattled the walls

Northsrider bristled at the command. He knew she was right. He couldn’t allow himself to be injured further, or bad things would happen far worst than this damn creature. 

“Vampires?” He scoffed as he hopped away, and the battle of the two ensued. 

He knew Jessica wouldn’t need him. He was a liability. At least, she assumed that. The creature was wildly attracted to blood and he had been bleeding. The Vampire would continue it’s rampage until it had its fill. 

‘That was until it tasted it.’ He had been inching toward allowing the creature to nibble on him but was afraid to lose control. With the insane weather and series of dreadful emotions, he didn’t need murder added to his demons. 

‘I’ve caused enough sorrow.’ He thought; his limping gradually worked out as his posture seemed to correct himself, and the bruising faded. 

“We got a supernatural event here.” He hit the elevator button and waited for it to come, Misty Knight barking orders over the phone.

“Lieutenant Northstrider, you had orders not to engage.”

He grumbled but listened. Misty had regulated him to position unfitting his jacket because of the incident with The Abbott. 

The agent had a raging boner for Red Hood and had seen him in everyone; she was willing to order an assault on the kid in front of cameras. 

I was not considering that he was ‘under the guise’ of another. Upon looking at the man, he had known that it was, in fact, Red Hood—another side effect of his condition.

He stepped out of the elevator as NYPD finest entered the lobby. He placed the phone on his shoulder, muffling the tirade, and flashed his shield. 

“Are you done?”

“Look-”

He interrupted her. “Your squad, fine, but this isn’t some random situation you can prance around. That thing is a supernatural creature. All bets are off, and my experience supersedes your command; that was why I was placed here.”

“I can have you arrested and brought upon charges, Carl. Could you not test me? You’re been bucking my command for too long. Do what you’re told, or you’re out of the special task force.” Threatened Misty. 

“No,” his voice rose, and an unmistakable growl rumbled in his throat. “You can’t arrest me, throw me out,” he scoffed. “My position here isn’t reliant upon your orders agent. Nick Fury wouldn’t even allow it.”

Misty grew quiet; Northstrider cursed as he dropped a name he didn’t want to, not that he was pretentious but out of what the agent would do next. 

The building shook for a consecutive time in a matter of seconds. 

“I knew you were connected to SHIELD but didn’t know how close that connection was. I wasn’t able to get hold of your files. 

He rolled his eyes as he pointed toward a barricade that had been hastily erected. New stations would be on the scene soon as commuters stopped and took their cell phones out, uncaring of the downpour. 

“Who are you with, The commandos? Spec-ops, tell me, are you my replacement if I fail.” She rattled out names; oddly, the first one was correct. 

Northsrider was a card-carrying member of the Howling Commanders. What happened upstate left a mark on his body and soul that even the commandos’ doctors and scientists couldn’t suppress. 

His only reprieve came with his familial connections. His great-great-grandfather and his namesake was Chief Northstrider of the Iroquois. 

He sighed, made promises, and gave some concessions, as did Misty. 

“I’m man enough to apologize. Something is off. It’s in the air. Someone playing with stuff they shouldn’t.”

“Is that something-.”

“I like you Special agent Misty, your one of the good ones, your heart is in it, but you’re looking in the wrong places.” He Interrupted.

“There are something I can’t talk about, I shouldn’t even be mentioning anything but if you get any strange calls, let me know, please.”

“Fine,” Carl could hear her teeth grind. “We will talk later… thank you for assuaging my thoughts. I know I may seem erratic, but it’s because I deeply care about what we’re doing, and I do want to see problems like this before the loss of life occurs. 

She grew silent before continuing. 

“I will greenlight the tactical unit but must also recommend containment.

He sighed. 

“Bureaucracy.” 

“This is from the top; the secretary general wants these creatures captured. I’m still shocked that these vampires have been around for so long. 

He internally thought. ‘Wait till they tell you about the covens.’

“Containment and the hit squad, prioritize containment, understood Agent Knight.” 

The Rings of Raggadorr was a spell that summons a cylinder of perfect magical force that separates into seven influential circular bands. The Rings range in color from indigo to black. These versatile mystics could use the Rings for offensive attacks, to bind opponents, or to protect locations from mystical attacks.

Channeling such power consecutively was terrible for most but manageable for master-class sorcerers like him. Still, he was famished; he knew he would have to consume untold amounts of food once he awoke. 

Ka’l hovered over the captured demon. Her restraints were constructed, rebounding her powers. Without her dimension, she had no hope of countering the effects of Raggadorr. 

He looked toward where he felt Jeremy and nodded before his feet touched the ground. He tilted over face plants, and darkness met him, but before he closed his eyes, he noted his master’s approach. 

Cole stepped out of the antechamber, the limp corpses of his squad aloft by his will, one of them cousin. He had noted the older teen that had Asiatic features.

It hadn’t taken long to confirm their relationship; sparse as it was, Jeremy hadn’t spent much time with the children of the York’s. 

Jeremy’s dad, Sebastian, was their half-sibling; they shared the same mother. Sebastian dad had taken a liking to the young Haitian single mother; they dated, she became pregnant, he had taken his son from the island, and for some reason that nobody knew, dropped him off to her side of the family when he had some difficulties and had never been seen again.

The T-spheres had scanned them all. They would die soon, a body without its soul would perish or, worse, become possessed, and just standing told him it was a nexus of sorts; the veils were weakened here. He looked down, passed it all, and felt the sting of the dragon vein that thrummed with natural energy. 

‘Sorry, Dr.Strange. This place is too nice to allow you to have it.’ He thought to himself. 

T-spheres sped ahead, scanning light spread around the demon who hissed in rage. 

Tyanon craned her neck, her visage forced back to the blind demonic version. He sighed. This was Strange battle, he hoped it wasn’t one that he needed to be ready for what was to come. 

It wasn’t lost on him that his earlier plan to be an outlier to events was slowly being eroded by necessity and pragmatism. 

“You.” she howled, dragging him from his complicated familial dilemma. She strained against the binds. He observed the spell with interest, recalling Strange combining them with the crimson binds. 

‘I remember something about the Rings of Raggadorr being sentient.’ He concentrated on trying to recall. It wasn’t as if he knew everything about Marvel, and the system didn’t give him Information. It was all from his past life. 

‘Pity. I can’t kill her. She will be needed.’ He touched down near the Red Lantern. He placed a finger on his neck. 

“You did good, Ka’l.” He said aloud for the man’s sake, knowing he was holding on to consciousness. 

The sorcerer’s lips trembled, but Cole pressed his pressure point, sending him into a restful sleep. 

Tyanon raged behind him, her snarls animalistic, her words heard, and he understood them. 

He looked over his shoulder, piercing her with his pale steel irises. 

“I’ll consume you all. Damn-.” Cole ignored the demon. He summoned a Sarcophagus. He quickly lifted the larger man and placed him inside. 

A boa descended, its spider-like appendages extended from the underbelly, clamping securely over the coffin.

‘Return to the towers.’ he ordered the drone.

Tyanon hadn’t stopped her threats, and he slowly neared her; his fragments of fear thrummed inside him. 

“We have much to discuss. First, I need my people’s souls returned.” He said, stepping right near the blind demon. 

“Never,” she growled.

“I just shrugged, but you can’t see. Do you feel pain?” The demoness bared her fangs. 

“So, you do?”

“You think you can harm me? Better have tried; once free, I’ll consume you all.” Cole smiled as he stood right below her, her binds glowing with power.

“Fear?” 

“I fear no-.”

He unraveled the power that stayed close to his skin, shadows deepened, and the draconic bat-thing approached, its wings spread out as it blotted the dawning sun in the sky. 

“Impossible, you… you’re a fear lord?”

‘I had suspicion. The fragments were in fact related to the denizen of fear and dreams. 

He knew who the fear lords were, but did his power seem like theirs? He did have the crazy contract thing, but wasn’t that part of the system? 

“It seems you will be useful in other areas. I My name is…..”