“Church Of Blood”
Joshua smiled. True to his word, he had sent Mother Mayhem and Jessica, her daughter, to Zandia. He had just received word from an acolyte that they had just gone into their new home and were settling in. “Enjoy your home,” he whispered. “Never let it be said that Brother Blood does not reward his faithful,” he told the acolyte. ”Never!” the acolyte replied. “All hail Brother Blood!” Joshua simply smiled again as the acolyte departed. He never tired of hearing that. “Let me get this straight,” Gar said. “You’re sure that’s Joshua?” ”Positive,” Mal replied. “I’ve run voice prints and every analysis I can think of. Everything matches.” Gar rubbed his chin. “I don’t like this,” he said. “We’ve got the Church of Blood, who’s always hated us. Now Joshua, a former Overseer shows up running the place?” ”There’s more,” Mal said. ”Wonderful.” Mal’s fingers danced across the keyboard and the video froze. A moment later it zoomed in on the person standing to Joshua’s right. “White skin?” Gar asked. “Oh no.” ”I’m afraid so,” Mal said. “That’s Harm.” “This is really starting to stink,” Gar said. “We’re going to have to look at this.” “Any suggestions how?” Gar thought a moment. “We need to send somebody in to scope things out. The only question is who.” “This is Leonid Kovar. Unfortunately I am unable to answer the telephone at the moment, so please leave a message. Das vedanya!” BEEP. “Hello, Leonid. This is Sonya. I must speak with you this evening. Please meet me at my apartment at eight o’clock. I will look forward to seeing you then.” Click. “You worthless lying worm!” his father yelled. “Father, please,” he said. ”Shut up!” A stinging filled his cheek as his father slapped him. “Look at you! You’re nothing but the child of the devil incarnate! You’re lucky I keep you locked up in here instead of just killing you myself!” ”Silence,” a new voice, regal and holding the promise of power silenced the father. “You will do this no longer.” Brother Blood stepped forward and gently set the boy on the ground. “You are the true monster. Do you not recognize a true child of Blood? He is mine.” Blood reached out and placed his hands on the father’s throat. “And you are nothing.” Blood’s hands jerked on the father’s throat, resulting in a sickening snap. The boy stopped sobbing as the father’s lifeless body fell to the ground. The boy walked forward and tugged on Blood’s cape. “Is it true, sir?” he asked, speaking with difficulty due to his swollen lip. “Are you truly my father?” Blood smiled and removed his headpiece, revealing his father’s face. “Yes I am!” the father yelled. “Get your filthy hands off me!” With a slap, the father sent the boy skidding across the floor. Terrified, the boy looked down to see that he had torn a piece of the cape off and still held it in his hands. Rage erupted in the father’s eyes. “That’s it!” he yelled. A burning torch appeared in his hand. “There’s only one way to purify your evil, and that’s with fire!” The boy screamed as the torch touched his skin and the flames spread… Joshua screamed as he shot upright in his bed. He padded on bare feet to a window and looked out over a courtyard. “Damn him,” Joshua muttered through clenched teeth. “I only wish I could kill him again.” A door flew open and one of his conquests for the evening ran in. “Are you all right, my lord?” she asked. “I heard a cry.” ”Everything is fine,” he replied coldly. “Leave me.” She reached out and ran her hand over his bare back. “I can soothe you if you so desire, my lord,” she said in a seductive voice. She jerked her hand back as Joshua whirled around with fury in his eyes. “I commanded you to leave me!” he yelled. She screamed as she was suddenly enveloped in flames. As her burning carcass fell to the ground, the sprinklers switched on, filling the room with rain. Ignoring the falling water, Joshua pulled on a robe, cinched it shut, and went to order some acolytes to dispose of the corpse. Bette Kane and Paco Ramone sat in the back of a van as it bumped along roads to Blood’s church. They glanced uneasily at each other. Paco’s mind turned back several hours… “So why are we going?” Paco asked. “Can’t we get some backup?” ”Unfortunately, no,” Gar responded. “Jason’s tied up in class. Karen can’t get away from work. We can’t find Leo right now. I wouldn’t exactly be inconspicuous, and Blood’s computers know Tara from an earlier encounter.*” (*Tales of the Teen Titans 40-41 – db) “What about the Overseers?” Bette asked. “Couldn’t we get Provoke or Breathtaker in?” Gar shook his head. “Impossible. Joshua knows them both too well.” He took a deep breath. “Listen, I wish we could do more. Unfortunately, Joshua’s got too much information on us through old Overseer databases. And now that he’s got access to Blood’s computers, well…” “That’s okay, Gar,” Bette said. “We’ll be fine.” We’ll be fine, Bette thought as the van hit another bump. Who was I trying to kid? Leonid walked into his apartment and saw that his answering machine was blinking. He set down his groceries, then pressed the button and heard Sonya’s message. He quickly grabbed his phone and called. “Hello? Yes, this is Leonid.” ”Leonid! Will you be able to come tonight?” ”Yes, Sonya, of course, but what is so serious?” “I cannot tell you now. I will see you at eight o’clock.” Leonid hung up the phone more confused than ever. Bette Kane and Paco Ramone stood in a lobby of Blood’s church. An acolyte walked down the line, taking the names of the new worshipers. When he reached Bette, he stopped. “Aren’t you Bette Kane, the tennis player?” he asked. Bette instantly slipped into her regular personality. “Yeah!” she said with a big smile on her face. “You wish to worship our Lord?” he asked. “Fer sure!” All Bette needed to complete the Valley Girl image was to be chomping on a piece of gum. “You see, my pool boy Tito here heard that things were, like, so wild here, so I thought that I’d, like, you know, check it out!” The acolyte had a funny look on his face. “Why don’t you and Tito come with me? I’m sure that Sister Serenity would like to meet you personally.” ”Awesome!” Bette said. She and Paco followed the acolyte out of the room. Mal Duncan leaned back from the computer console. “What’s going on?” Gar asked. “Man, Bette’s got that valley girl thing down too well. I think my ears were gonna start bleeding if she kept that up.” Mal took a deep breath. “Looks like it worked. Brother Bozo or whoever’s checking them in recognized Bette and now they’re both on the way to meet with somebody called Sister Serenity.” Gar frowned. “I really don’t like this,” he said. Mal swiveled around in his chair. “Did we really have any choice?” he asked. Gar just scowled more deeply. “No, and that’s what really gets me,” he admitted. In the KLEX offices, Vicky Winters looked up as an intern dropped an envelope on her desk. “Here you go, Ms. Winters,” he said. “Thanks,” she said. She checked the return address and smiled. “Ms. Winters,” the intern said, “What’s going on? I mean, you’ve been getting these envelopes for days now. You on a hot lead?” Vicky smiled in response. “The hottest.” She couldn’t wait to check out the photos within. Bette and Paco walked into a small room. “Please wait here,” the acolyte said. He walked through a door on the other side. “Is that them?” a woman asked as the acolyte entered the room. “Yes, Sister Slay,” the acolyte replied. “Bette Kane and her traveling companion.” Sister Slay’s mouth twitched upward in a cruel smile. “Poor Ms. Kane. She believes that we don’t know her secret. It’s amazing how much information we got out of young Dick Grayson years ago.*” (* Dick was abducted and brainwashed by Blood’s church. The brainwashing began in Tales of the Teen Titans 40-41 and the Blood story concluded in New Teen Titans (2nd series) #31 – db) Slay’s finger stabbed a button. On the screen, Bette and Paco whirled around as thick metal sheets sealed the doors. “After all, how often do Titans pay us a visit?” Gas began to swirl around the heroes on the screen. In the chamber, Bette and Paco fought for breath as they collapsed into unconsciousness. Later that night, Leonid Kovar arrived at Sonya Romanov’s apartment. Seeing the door open, he cautiously stepped inside. “Sonya?” he asked. “I am here,” she said as she stepped into the living room wearing a robe. ”What is wrong?” Leonid asked as he saw the tearstains on her face. “Have you been crying?” ”Da,” Sonya replied. “Please forgive me.” ”For what?” Leonid asked. “I do not understand.” When the robe came off, he did. Beneath the robe Sonya was wearing a familiar tan uniform with a red star on her chest. “Leonid Kovar, I have been sent by our government.” Sonya’s voice was shaking, but formal. “Your past trespasses have been forgiven. At this time in our history, Russia has decided to rebuild the People’s Heroes. I have been selected as the new Sickle. Your government requests that you return home with me and serve as our leader – Hammer.” Leonid simply sat there, shocked beyond words. Next Issue: The remainder of Titans West storms Blood’s church in an effort to rescue Flamebird and Vibe. And Red Star and Sonya have some visitors… Previous Issue | Next Issue |
