Post by The Circle Television Network on Jan 1, 2017 19:03:54 GMT -5
Chapter XVII (Part 3): Everyone Has Their Own Agenda
I’m a cop, and if you think you’re bad enough to commit a crime in my town…then I’m obligated to put a foot directly in the crack of your ass…PERIOD!! I’m going to do my duty and get the job done in ANY fight…powers or no damn powers!
I have never felt like I was over my head; not when I faced Meepus inside the prison and not when I faced Gaia outside the Capitol Building. I wasn’t a meta…but I had no intention of letting that hinder me from upholding the law!
Inside the bank, I underestimated Meepus and he nearly burned me to a crisp! Maybe it hurt my pride a little that Spike had to step in and take him down…maybe that hurt my pride and made me reckless. When the Shadow got the drop on Spike, it was my turn to return the favor.
I put the barrel of my gun to the Shadow’s head after getting the drop on her, but I made a stupid mistake. I take the time to slip in a quick quip, “Let him go bitch!” I was so full of myself…and before too long…I regretted it.
She was too fast…so fast that I never even saw her move, she just dissolved. Before I knew it, she was behind me with a gun in her hand. I curse myself for being a prideful fool…then I hear the sounds of the gun as it goes off twice…
BLAM
BLAM
Funny…gunfire has never sounded that loud before…but what the hell do I care anymore? I fucked up…and now I’m dead…
It hurt like hell and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. When I opened my eyes…the face I saw wasn’t the one I was expecting…its fucking Anka, wings and all, just staring down at me with those big-ass, Gwendolyn Parr, serial killer eyes of hers! I figure she came to take me up to Heaven…because that’s what angels do…isn’t it?
The bitch doesn’t take me to Heaven…she just sits there and watches me die, just holding my hand…
“…angel, my ass…”
Empire City General
Downtown, Empire City
Stacey stared at her hand…the same one that Anka had been holding, only now on her index finger was a shiny new ring. She took a deep breath and her lungs protested mightily. She coughed, and wretched so hard that she thought she’d pass out. The feeling slowly passed and she felt the tingle of the ring as the pain ebbed away. She should have died in that bank…and she knew she would have.
She looked up as the door opened and a group of doctors walk in. Stacey was shocked and surprised, to see such a large group. The one in the front, an older balding man walked over to Stacey, an immense smile on his face. “Officer Jordan…I hope that you don’t mind, but a few of my colleagues wanted to come here to see you as well.” Without even waiting for a reply, he stood by her side and addressed the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, our patent was brought in with two gunshot wounds to the back. The bullets passed through her, puncturing her heart and lung.” He turned back to her and reached down to open the front of her hospital gown.
Stacey grabbed his hand and glared at him. “Ahhh…NO! I don’t think so!”
The doctor smiled apologetically at the others, before bending down and whispering in Stacey’s ear. “Please Detective… they are doctors…you don’t have anything that they haven’t seen before.”
Stacey’s expression never changed. “They haven’t seen MY anything before Doc…and I prefer to keep it that way!”
The doctor pleaded, “PLEASE MS. JORDAN!! Trust me…your virtue will remain intact.”
She rolled her eyes as she took the liberty of carefully rolling down the front of her gown, barely exposing the bandages. She sighed, muttering under her breath, “…assholes…”
The doctor reached down and carefully peeled back the bandages as the crowd came forward and looked at what remained of her exit wounds. “As you can see…this is all quite remarkable. The exterior tissue damage is almost completely healed. There is still some internal damage…but for the most part her body has all but repaired itself.”
A middle aged female with a long gray ponytail lowered her glasses as she stared at Stacey suspiciously. “Are you certain that we aren’t dealing with a metahuman…a mutant of some kind?”
Stacey glared at the woman, causing her to avert her gaze, but she remained silent. The doctor nodded as he answered her question. “Detective Jordan is a normal and extremely healthy human female. All of the standard tests were performed and she passed them all. There is only one explanation for her rapid recovery…” The crowd seemed to wait in breathless anticipation, along with Stacey. When the answer came, Stacey nearly became unglued. “…she’s been touched by the hand of God.”
Stacey nearly came out of her hospital bed, “WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU FUCKING PEOPLE?!! GET OUT!! GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!!”
The doctor looked at her in shock and dismay. “Ms. Jordan!! Please… calm down!! We were just making a…”
Stacey continued to yell, “GET YOUR ASSES OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW, BEFORE I HAVE YOU ALL ARRESTED FOR PISSING OFF A POLICE OFFICER!!”
The doctor was red-faced and embarrassed, but he did what he could to put the best possible face on the situation. “She’s a little emotional, and that’s completely understandable, given the circumstances. First the incident in Gateway Park a few weeks ago and now this…”
As they left, Stacey shook her head angrily, while she tried to lay back and relax, but to her dismay, the door opened again and Brandon and his sister, Daria walked in. Daria stood bad impassively, she had only come to make sure that her brother stayed out of trouble. Brandon walked over to Stacey’s bedside. “Thank God!! Stacey…I was so worried about you! Are you okay?”
“Brandon…I’m fine, so you can leave now.” She nodded to the door. “I think you’ll find quite a few new sheep for your gathering flock out there!”
Brandon didn’t know what she was talking about, but he ignored it as he walked even closer and stood at her side. He reached down and attempted to touch her hand, but she quickly withdrew it. He signed. “Stacey…I was worried sick about you, and when Anka never came back, I thought the worst!”
“Anka?” she questioned. “You sent her to follow me?” She seemed to boil just under the surface, but even she wasn’t stupid enough to look a gift horse in the mouth. She pulled the ring off her finger and shoved it rudely at him. “Give this THING back to her and tell her that I said…thanks” the last word, oozing with sarcasm.
This peaked Daria’s interest as she watched Brandon handle the ring, looking at it and then turning his attention back to Stacey. “Stacey…I don’t know what…”
Stacey looked away from him, folding her arms, “Could you please just leave…NOW!”
Brandon, started to protest, but Daria put her hand on his arm to stop him. “Brandon…give her space. She’s hurt.” She glanced down at the ring, enormously curious about its significance.
Brandon stared at Stacey, then sighed as he nodded. He walked over laid the ring on the table next to her bed. “Well…I’m glad that you’re okay…my prayers were answered.”
Stacey added, still not looking at him, “Yeah, it looks like you finally got everything that you ever wanted.”
Brandon felt a prick deep down in his gut as if he’d just been hit there, but he didn’t reply. He took a deep breath and turned and walked out the door. Daria lingered there for a moment longer, “For the life of me, I will never understand why my brother loves you so much. You’re an unconscionable bitch in my opinion.”
She cast one more longing look at the ring, then turned and walked out of the room.
Stacey’s eyes immediately welled up with tears. She fought to contain them as they overran her self-imposed barricade and flowed down her face, hot and sticky. “…fuck…Fuck…FUCK!!!” She swore as she wiped roughly at her cheeks.
She hated Brandon Knight…almost as much as she still loved him…
Ruins of Madison Chapel
Madison District, Empire City
Anka perched herself on the soot blackened steeple as she replayed the events of the last few days over inside her head…the confrontation with Superius and then seeing Arella. All of this couldn’t have been coincidence. In her experience, there was no such thing. She had pursued Superius for years as she sought to end him, at least before she found Arella. Thoughts of revenge had been forgotten…at least until the soldiers of Rome captured them and murdered the girl right in front of her. Up until the moment she laid eyes on her the pain of the girl’s death had cut like a knife and the wounds were still flayed open…bleeding and raw.
Why was God doing this to her? Dangling Arella in front of her when she was again so close to getting revenge that she could taste it!
The mighty Superius had been laid low before it and despite his fabled strength and durability, he was at her mercy inside the ruins of the town hall stage. Anka lashed out at him with savage bloodlust…incensed…enraged! His life was hers for the taking…until she saw Arella through the dust and ruin.
Anka already knew that God hated her. What else could explain the reason that she had been forced to endure while the ones that she loved moved on into paradise? She had sinned greatly in God’s eyes and her punishment was eternal. For a time she had believed that keeping the priest safe was the key to her redemption…her eventual ascension into the Kingdom of Heaven. Then she thought that destroying Superius was what God desired of her…only to have ‘her daughter’ dangled in front of her like a water before a man dying of thirst in the middle of a burning hot desert.
This was no coincidence…this was the same game God had played with her since the beginning…scratching the scab from her wounds to cause her even more pain and fuel her rage. It wasn’t a quiet ember…it was a raging fire deep down inside of her, threatening to consume her. She had so many questions and she had never gotten an answers. Now…there was even more questions for which there were no answers!
She spread her wings and soared from the roof of the burned out chapel which was being rebuilt, as she made her way high into the approaching nighttime sky…
Knight Estate
Trinity Hills, Empire City
Daria Knight sat in her study, pouring over the blurry photos of ‘The Angel of Empire City.’ The pictures were horrible…hardly anything could be gleaned from them, but she had seen her in the flesh…and that was far more impressive. Still, these pictures were something tangible…something that she could hold in her hand…much like the ring that Stacey had given to her brother earlier.
She had believed that her brother was a crackpot…with his deluded idea that there was only one God, but now…everything was different. Perhaps there was a lot more to this ‘One God’ thing than she had once thought. Maybe there were things…possibilities that she hadn’t considered.
Damian looked over as his intercom flashed and his manservant spoke to him. “Ms. Knight…I relayed the information, just as you requested. Empire General Hospital, room 2108…”
She smiled, “Good work Drexel.”
Daria sat back and laced her fingers as she picked up a drink and looked off into the distance…her thoughts still on the ring Stacey had tried to give to her brother. Daria didn’t know what secrets or power the ring might have held…but she wanted it…and she was going to get it…or more precisely, someone else was going to get it for her!
The Bowels
Underneath, Empire City
Reaver grinned broadly as she looked at Vixxxen, “Looks like we’re back in the game luv! You and I are gonna pay an old friend a ‘ospital visit!”
Vixxxen arched her eyebrow, “An old friend? Does that mean we don’t get to kill them?”
Reaver shrugged, “We’re not supposed to…but this is a special case Luv…and accidents do ‘appen…”
The two women shared a laugh over their second chance at ending the life of Detective Stacey Jordan…
EPISODE CREDITS
CAST (In order of appearance)
Detective Stacey Jordan … Nina Stokes
Doctor … Keith Tobey
Female Doctor … Agnes Lesshead
Brandon Knight … Trace VanReardon
Daria Knight … Missy
Anka … Kenzi Grey
Reaver … Melissa Reeves
Vixxxen … Katie Anderson
Directed by … DubbleFC
Screenplay by … Ron B.
Produced by … CTN Television Studios
Casting by … Maleek Raheem
Music by … Guilty Pleasure
I’m a cop, and if you think you’re bad enough to commit a crime in my town…then I’m obligated to put a foot directly in the crack of your ass…PERIOD!! I’m going to do my duty and get the job done in ANY fight…powers or no damn powers!
I have never felt like I was over my head; not when I faced Meepus inside the prison and not when I faced Gaia outside the Capitol Building. I wasn’t a meta…but I had no intention of letting that hinder me from upholding the law!
Inside the bank, I underestimated Meepus and he nearly burned me to a crisp! Maybe it hurt my pride a little that Spike had to step in and take him down…maybe that hurt my pride and made me reckless. When the Shadow got the drop on Spike, it was my turn to return the favor.
I put the barrel of my gun to the Shadow’s head after getting the drop on her, but I made a stupid mistake. I take the time to slip in a quick quip, “Let him go bitch!” I was so full of myself…and before too long…I regretted it.
She was too fast…so fast that I never even saw her move, she just dissolved. Before I knew it, she was behind me with a gun in her hand. I curse myself for being a prideful fool…then I hear the sounds of the gun as it goes off twice…
BLAM
BLAM
Funny…gunfire has never sounded that loud before…but what the hell do I care anymore? I fucked up…and now I’m dead…
It hurt like hell and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. When I opened my eyes…the face I saw wasn’t the one I was expecting…its fucking Anka, wings and all, just staring down at me with those big-ass, Gwendolyn Parr, serial killer eyes of hers! I figure she came to take me up to Heaven…because that’s what angels do…isn’t it?
The bitch doesn’t take me to Heaven…she just sits there and watches me die, just holding my hand…
“…angel, my ass…”
Empire City General
Downtown, Empire City
Stacey stared at her hand…the same one that Anka had been holding, only now on her index finger was a shiny new ring. She took a deep breath and her lungs protested mightily. She coughed, and wretched so hard that she thought she’d pass out. The feeling slowly passed and she felt the tingle of the ring as the pain ebbed away. She should have died in that bank…and she knew she would have.
She looked up as the door opened and a group of doctors walk in. Stacey was shocked and surprised, to see such a large group. The one in the front, an older balding man walked over to Stacey, an immense smile on his face. “Officer Jordan…I hope that you don’t mind, but a few of my colleagues wanted to come here to see you as well.” Without even waiting for a reply, he stood by her side and addressed the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, our patent was brought in with two gunshot wounds to the back. The bullets passed through her, puncturing her heart and lung.” He turned back to her and reached down to open the front of her hospital gown.
Stacey grabbed his hand and glared at him. “Ahhh…NO! I don’t think so!”
The doctor smiled apologetically at the others, before bending down and whispering in Stacey’s ear. “Please Detective… they are doctors…you don’t have anything that they haven’t seen before.”
Stacey’s expression never changed. “They haven’t seen MY anything before Doc…and I prefer to keep it that way!”
The doctor pleaded, “PLEASE MS. JORDAN!! Trust me…your virtue will remain intact.”
She rolled her eyes as she took the liberty of carefully rolling down the front of her gown, barely exposing the bandages. She sighed, muttering under her breath, “…assholes…”
The doctor reached down and carefully peeled back the bandages as the crowd came forward and looked at what remained of her exit wounds. “As you can see…this is all quite remarkable. The exterior tissue damage is almost completely healed. There is still some internal damage…but for the most part her body has all but repaired itself.”
A middle aged female with a long gray ponytail lowered her glasses as she stared at Stacey suspiciously. “Are you certain that we aren’t dealing with a metahuman…a mutant of some kind?”
Stacey glared at the woman, causing her to avert her gaze, but she remained silent. The doctor nodded as he answered her question. “Detective Jordan is a normal and extremely healthy human female. All of the standard tests were performed and she passed them all. There is only one explanation for her rapid recovery…” The crowd seemed to wait in breathless anticipation, along with Stacey. When the answer came, Stacey nearly became unglued. “…she’s been touched by the hand of God.”
Stacey nearly came out of her hospital bed, “WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU FUCKING PEOPLE?!! GET OUT!! GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!!”
The doctor looked at her in shock and dismay. “Ms. Jordan!! Please… calm down!! We were just making a…”
Stacey continued to yell, “GET YOUR ASSES OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW, BEFORE I HAVE YOU ALL ARRESTED FOR PISSING OFF A POLICE OFFICER!!”
The doctor was red-faced and embarrassed, but he did what he could to put the best possible face on the situation. “She’s a little emotional, and that’s completely understandable, given the circumstances. First the incident in Gateway Park a few weeks ago and now this…”
As they left, Stacey shook her head angrily, while she tried to lay back and relax, but to her dismay, the door opened again and Brandon and his sister, Daria walked in. Daria stood bad impassively, she had only come to make sure that her brother stayed out of trouble. Brandon walked over to Stacey’s bedside. “Thank God!! Stacey…I was so worried about you! Are you okay?”
“Brandon…I’m fine, so you can leave now.” She nodded to the door. “I think you’ll find quite a few new sheep for your gathering flock out there!”
Brandon didn’t know what she was talking about, but he ignored it as he walked even closer and stood at her side. He reached down and attempted to touch her hand, but she quickly withdrew it. He signed. “Stacey…I was worried sick about you, and when Anka never came back, I thought the worst!”
“Anka?” she questioned. “You sent her to follow me?” She seemed to boil just under the surface, but even she wasn’t stupid enough to look a gift horse in the mouth. She pulled the ring off her finger and shoved it rudely at him. “Give this THING back to her and tell her that I said…thanks” the last word, oozing with sarcasm.
This peaked Daria’s interest as she watched Brandon handle the ring, looking at it and then turning his attention back to Stacey. “Stacey…I don’t know what…”
Stacey looked away from him, folding her arms, “Could you please just leave…NOW!”
Brandon, started to protest, but Daria put her hand on his arm to stop him. “Brandon…give her space. She’s hurt.” She glanced down at the ring, enormously curious about its significance.
Brandon stared at Stacey, then sighed as he nodded. He walked over laid the ring on the table next to her bed. “Well…I’m glad that you’re okay…my prayers were answered.”
Stacey added, still not looking at him, “Yeah, it looks like you finally got everything that you ever wanted.”
Brandon felt a prick deep down in his gut as if he’d just been hit there, but he didn’t reply. He took a deep breath and turned and walked out the door. Daria lingered there for a moment longer, “For the life of me, I will never understand why my brother loves you so much. You’re an unconscionable bitch in my opinion.”
She cast one more longing look at the ring, then turned and walked out of the room.
Stacey’s eyes immediately welled up with tears. She fought to contain them as they overran her self-imposed barricade and flowed down her face, hot and sticky. “…fuck…Fuck…FUCK!!!” She swore as she wiped roughly at her cheeks.
She hated Brandon Knight…almost as much as she still loved him…
Ruins of Madison Chapel
Madison District, Empire City
Anka perched herself on the soot blackened steeple as she replayed the events of the last few days over inside her head…the confrontation with Superius and then seeing Arella. All of this couldn’t have been coincidence. In her experience, there was no such thing. She had pursued Superius for years as she sought to end him, at least before she found Arella. Thoughts of revenge had been forgotten…at least until the soldiers of Rome captured them and murdered the girl right in front of her. Up until the moment she laid eyes on her the pain of the girl’s death had cut like a knife and the wounds were still flayed open…bleeding and raw.
Why was God doing this to her? Dangling Arella in front of her when she was again so close to getting revenge that she could taste it!
The mighty Superius had been laid low before it and despite his fabled strength and durability, he was at her mercy inside the ruins of the town hall stage. Anka lashed out at him with savage bloodlust…incensed…enraged! His life was hers for the taking…until she saw Arella through the dust and ruin.
Anka already knew that God hated her. What else could explain the reason that she had been forced to endure while the ones that she loved moved on into paradise? She had sinned greatly in God’s eyes and her punishment was eternal. For a time she had believed that keeping the priest safe was the key to her redemption…her eventual ascension into the Kingdom of Heaven. Then she thought that destroying Superius was what God desired of her…only to have ‘her daughter’ dangled in front of her like a water before a man dying of thirst in the middle of a burning hot desert.
This was no coincidence…this was the same game God had played with her since the beginning…scratching the scab from her wounds to cause her even more pain and fuel her rage. It wasn’t a quiet ember…it was a raging fire deep down inside of her, threatening to consume her. She had so many questions and she had never gotten an answers. Now…there was even more questions for which there were no answers!
She spread her wings and soared from the roof of the burned out chapel which was being rebuilt, as she made her way high into the approaching nighttime sky…
Knight Estate
Trinity Hills, Empire City
Daria Knight sat in her study, pouring over the blurry photos of ‘The Angel of Empire City.’ The pictures were horrible…hardly anything could be gleaned from them, but she had seen her in the flesh…and that was far more impressive. Still, these pictures were something tangible…something that she could hold in her hand…much like the ring that Stacey had given to her brother earlier.
She had believed that her brother was a crackpot…with his deluded idea that there was only one God, but now…everything was different. Perhaps there was a lot more to this ‘One God’ thing than she had once thought. Maybe there were things…possibilities that she hadn’t considered.
Damian looked over as his intercom flashed and his manservant spoke to him. “Ms. Knight…I relayed the information, just as you requested. Empire General Hospital, room 2108…”
She smiled, “Good work Drexel.”
Daria sat back and laced her fingers as she picked up a drink and looked off into the distance…her thoughts still on the ring Stacey had tried to give to her brother. Daria didn’t know what secrets or power the ring might have held…but she wanted it…and she was going to get it…or more precisely, someone else was going to get it for her!
The Bowels
Underneath, Empire City
Reaver grinned broadly as she looked at Vixxxen, “Looks like we’re back in the game luv! You and I are gonna pay an old friend a ‘ospital visit!”
Vixxxen arched her eyebrow, “An old friend? Does that mean we don’t get to kill them?”
Reaver shrugged, “We’re not supposed to…but this is a special case Luv…and accidents do ‘appen…”
The two women shared a laugh over their second chance at ending the life of Detective Stacey Jordan…
EPISODE CREDITS
CAST (In order of appearance)
Detective Stacey Jordan … Nina Stokes
Doctor … Keith Tobey
Female Doctor … Agnes Lesshead
Brandon Knight … Trace VanReardon
Daria Knight … Missy
Anka … Kenzi Grey
Reaver … Melissa Reeves
Vixxxen … Katie Anderson
Directed by … DubbleFC
Screenplay by … Ron B.
Produced by … CTN Television Studios
Casting by … Maleek Raheem
Music by … Guilty Pleasure