SEBASTIAN DRUID’S DAY OFF

By Wesley Overhults

SHIELD Safehouse 23

Sebastian Druid reached into the refrigerator and pulled out the jug of milk, unscrewing the top and taking special care when pouring the liquid into his bowl of cereal.  According to numerous statistics he had read, Requiem knew that a large amount of accidental deaths occurred in the home and he didn’t plan on being counted among those statistics at any point in the near future.  That was his main reason for taking extra caution whenever he was around the safehouse that he and his teammates called home.  Another, perhaps more legitimate reason, was that he wasn’t used to living in a normal house.  It was always the most mundane activities that people took for granted.  For example, most people took no notice of the amount of sugar they ingested when they consumed their cereal.  They didn’t take into account that an increase in sugar intake could result in cardiovascular disease, which year after year killed more Americans than even cancer.  Though Sebastian believed that most people knew these facts, because only someone truly ignorant wouldn’t educate themselves on how to stay alive, he realized that most normal people didn’t care.  They didn’t care about the poisons they were shoveling into their bodies or the countless risks they took doing average things day in and day out.  He wondered how people did it, how they dulled their survival instincts so much in order to function in normal society. He had been trying to follow suit but it was proving more difficult than he had anticipated.  Case in point, he still couldn’t allow himself to buy Frosted Flakes or Lucky Charms and still have a clear conscience.

“You know it’s going to take you forever to get to the couch if you walk that slow, right?” asked Neon as she watched Requiem baby-step his way into the living room with his bowl of cereal in his hand.  “Sebastian?”

Requiem only nodded to show he had heard Stephanie, gingerly setting the bowl on the coffee table and then sitting down on the couch.  It was a wonder he could keep his senses as sharp as he did with the voices he heard all the time.  He took it as a badge of honor that he could even function at all considering the mental state he lived in.  Stephanie didn’t really see how he did it.  Truthfully, she couldn’t really understand Sebastian’s position and didn’t think any normal person ever could.  She did like spending time with him though.  Out of all her teammates, he was the one who had been the most supportive after her uncle’s death.  Neon knew that the others dealt with death in their own way but they seemed to move past it much sooner than they probably should.  By contrast, Requiem never moved past death because he was always keenly aware of it.

“I didn’t want to spill it,” he finally explained as he watched her flip through the channels on the TV.  “It could make the floor slippery and then I could fall and kill myself.  Most fatal accidents—”

“Occur in the home,” finished Neon.  “I know, Sebastian.  I know.”

“Where are the others?” inquired Requiem.

“Finesse is out doing her thing and I don’t know where the other boys are,” answered Neon as she took a sip of her tea and continued channel-surfing with her other hand.

She let a small smirk grace her lips at the thought that she and Requiem were alone in the house and the only thing they could think to do was watch television. It wasn’t that she wanted anything to happen; she certainly didn’t expect it considering Sebastian’s awkwardness.  It definitely wasn’t how she had pictured things months ago when she was still a normal teenager.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand the concept of this show,” admitted Requiem.

“They just take a bunch of college kids and put them together in a house and film it,” explained Neon in reference to the reality show she had finally settled on. “It’s kinda like us except without the constant suicide missions.”

“Suicide is the leading cause of death among people in our age range,” noted Requiem.  “You know honestly, from a statistical standpoint we might actually be at less risk of suicide because of our occupations.  I haven’t found any figures to support this theory yet but I’m confident it holds up.”

Not for the first time, Neon gave her teammate a weird look as he took a bite of his cereal and mulled over the statistics in his head.  It was strange that all his life, Sebastian was notoriously bad at math except when it came to statistics and probabilities.  It was another of his savant-like qualities.  Stephanie was about to say something in regards to his theory but someone was coming through the front door.  Both of them turned their attention to see Quake enter the safehouse.

“Where are the others?” asked Quake.

“They’re out,” confirmed Neon before Requiem had a chance to answer.  “Something you’d like us to do for you?”

“Actually this is a favor for a friend,” admitted Quake.  “I have a contact in the NYPD that needs some help with a special case.  When Detective Manheim mentioned some of the strange circumstances, I thought maybe I would have Sebastian take a look into it.”

“Me?” asked Requiem, his surprise so evident that he almost choked on his cereal.  Months ago, he would’ve hyperventilated about that but this time he was shockingly calm about being seconds away from death.  “Why me exactly?”

“There’s been a rash of murders in his jurisdiction as of late,” said Quake.  “At first the victims were exclusively criminals so the police didn’t pay it too much attention.  They figured it was just a turf war or something but lately a couple of victims have been completely clean.  They’ve pegged the murders as the work of a serial killer and they already have a prime suspect.”

“So why come to us then?” asked Neon.

“The suspect’s name is Justin Kenton,” stated Quake.  “According to the NYPD’s files, he briefly, and I stress that word, assumed the costumed identity of the Sin-Eater.  The problem is that Kenton is already dead.  The department wanted to verify it so they tried to dig up his body but the coffin was empty.  Somehow there’s a dead man running around killing people.  Notice the strangeness yet?”

“I can see how that would be disconcerting,” admitted Requiem.

“I told Detective Manheim that Sebastian might be able to use his unique skills to help,” said Quake.  “I want this kept quiet though until we know what we’re dealing with.  The media doesn’t need to know there’s an undead serial killer on the loose.  That’s why I planned on this being a solo mission for just you.”

“I’m coming with him,” decided Neon.

“I can handle myself,” reminded Requiem.  “I must admit that I’m interested in meeting Mr. Kenton.  I expect the conversation to be very . . . enlightening.  I believe that I’ll be taking this case.”

“My cars outside waiting to take you to the station,” said Quake.  “Detective Manheim will go over more of the case with you when you get there.”

“Let me finish my breakfast and change clothes,” said Requiem.

“Okay, real talk now,” said Neon to Quake as soon as her teammate was out of earshot.  “You know that he can barely function out in the normal world.  He needs someone with him to keep him from getting himself killed.”

“He’ll have the NYPD watching his back,” reminded Quake.

“Yeah well they’ll have to watch both our backs,” decided Neon.  “Seriously, Agent Johnson, if there’s anything I’ve learned from this job and especially from him it’s that you’re never as safe as you think you are.”

“Alright,” consented Quake.  “Just the two of you though.  Like I said, I want this low-key until we figure out what’s going on.”

OCME Main Office, Manhattan

“Daisy said you’d need the bodies to get the information,” said Detective Adrian Manheim.

Manheim had to admit that this wasn’t the most orthodox method of questioning.  Then again, nothing about the case was orthodox.  He had known Quake for a while now.  They had a decent working relationship and an unspoken understanding between the two of them that they were to stay out of each other’s business unless their paths needed to cross.  In Manheim’s view, SHIELD served a necessary purpose and they were more capable of dealing with the superhuman threats to the city than the NYPD was.  However, when it came to street-level normal crime, Manheim knew that the NYPD could handle themselves without needing SHIELD to babysit them.  He knew that Daisy could respect that understanding.

“I would prefer to do it without everyone else in the room,” requested Requiem.

“That’s not possible,” said Manheim.  “I admit that there’s crap out there in the world that’s beyond my understanding but I’ve seen way too many people waste our time with their supposed psychic powers.”

“I don’t think there’s anybody out there that can do what I do,” responded Requiem before closing his eyes and listening to the voices of the dead bodies that were arranged in a row in the morgue.

Neon watched him, noting that this was the first time she had ever really seen Sebastian work.  It wasn’t that she didn’t believe he did what he said he could do. She had seen enough strange things in her relatively short lifetime to fully believe that he could talk to dead people.  Watching him do it was another thing though.  She found it a little unsettling to watch him nod and talk to corpses as though he was having a conversation with a normal person.

“Their stories all match up,” confirmed Sebastian.  “It was a muscular man in a ski mask brandishing two handheld pistols.  Most of the victims described him as wearing some sort of combat fatigues though strangely enough he wasn’t wearing any sort of protective gear like a bulletproof vest.”

“The description fits with the Sin-Eater,” admitted Manheim.  “None of these victims have a mark on them though.  If this guy shot them, there should be wounds of some sort.”

“The killer doesn’t use conventional bullets,” realized Requiem.  “All the victims report seeing small glowing projectiles come out of the killer’s guns.  I can sense that there’s some sort of magical energy coming from all of their bodies, an energy that’s most likely foreign to their beings.  Basically, this killer uses magic bullets to take down his targets without leaving a scratch on their physical bodies.”

“And the killer targeted them for what purpose?” inquired Manheim, his eyebrow arched to show he wasn’t completely sure he liked where this was going.

“The first victims were obvious criminals just as Miss Daisy said you noted in your reports,” said Requiem.  “The killer began branching out though.  That one over there was embezzling money from the company he worked for.  The other man was cheating on his wife.  Do you notice a pattern here, Detective Manheim?”

“Aside from all of them being men, all of them were committing some sort of sin,” stated Manheim.  “Yeah, it’s definitely the MO of the Sin-Eater alright but that doesn’t put us any closer to finding him.”

“Maybe all the killings happened in the same area,” suggested Neon.

“Already tried that,” said Manheim.  “It’s still too big of an area to canvas.  Wait, you said that one of the victims was cheating on his wife.  Who was he cheating with?”

“A prostitute I believe,” said Requiem.  “In fact, I believe the man in question wasn’t the only one of your victims who was seeing the same lady of the night. You’re working on an angle?”

“Justin Kenton’s mother was a prostitute,” explained Manheim.  “In fact, she was raped by the original Sin-Eater, a cop named Stan Carter.”

“So you’re saying that this kid is the son of the original Sin-Eater?” asked Neon.  “Is the mom still alive?”

“No but at this point I don’t think it matters,” answered Manheim.  “If this is really Kenton and he’s back from the dead then he could be using this prostitute as some sort of stand-in for his mom.”

“And it’s only a matter of time before he stops killing her clients and decides to finish her off,” added Requiem.  “We need to find this woman and do it fast before the Sin-Eater gets to her first.”

There was squawking emitting from Detective Manheim’s cell phone.  He fished the phone out of his pocket and took the call.  Both Neon and Requiem could see the color start to drain from his face.  It appeared that the Sin-Eater was about to strike again.

“The vice squad busted some girls in a sting,” explained Manheim hurriedly as he ran towards his car.  “They were wrapping things up when the Sin-Eater decided to drop in on them.  Looks like we were right about him not waiting around to make his move against this girl.”

“Then we shouldn’t wait around before making ours,” decided Requiem.

Hunts Point, Bronx

The world was an ugly place.  Most people didn’t realize that.  They chose to hide behind their masks, chose to blind themselves to the harsh realities of the world.  The world was a filthy place, a diseased place that was happily rotting away without care or concern.  There was no end in sight to the corruption, the depravity, the sin that the people of the world could commit against one another.  When he was alive, Justin Kenton foolishly believed that he was the instrument of divine righteousness that could restore order to the world.  Dying had an interesting way of putting things into the proper perspective.  He was still concerned with smiting the guilty but just for different reasons now.  After all, he was called the Sin-Eater for a reason.

“You’re ruining a perfectly good lunch for me,” stated the Sin-Eater as he leveled his pistols at the cops who had barricaded themselves inside the hotel with the handful of hookers they were intent on busting.  “I’ve been after one of those girls for a very long time and I’m not going to let you stand in my way.”

Kenton wasn’t concerned with whatever cover the police had nor was he concerned with the ordnance they might be packing.  It was foolish to believe that a dead man could die again and he was so very, very dead.  It was the reason he didn’t wear any protective armor at all even though his line of work was a very dangerous one.  A dead man had nothing to fear from the world of the living.

“Whoever the hell you think you are, this is police business,” stated one of the cops.  “You got two seconds to drop your weapons before we drop you.”

“I think you’re the one who’s going to get dropped,” decided the Sin-Eater as he squeezed the triggers on both his firearms.

Bullets made out of black energy flew from the barrels of his guns.  The bullets went straight through the closed door that the two cops were hiding behind as if the slab of wood was nothing more than empty air.  The bullets buried themselves in the heads of the two police officers and killed them instantly.  Their eyes became blank and devoid of pupils as they dropped like ragdolls after the bullets struck them.  The three prostitutes immediately began screaming for their lives even as the Sin-Eater slowly stalked towards their hiding place.  The officers in the cruiser that pulled up didn’t even wait to give a warning.  They took up positions as fast as they could and began unloading their ammunition into Kenton.  Unfortunately, all their bullets had no effect on the undead assassin.  If anything, they only served to further irritate him.

“My bullets only punish the guilty,” said the Sin-Eater as he gunned down the two police officers behind him.  “It seems that New York’s finest have many sins to atone for.  Let’s turn our attention elsewhere though.”

Sin-Eater’s attention returned to the ladies of the night.  He used his superhuman strength to kick down the door to the hotel room.  His eyes roamed over the three call girls before shoving the two in the front aside and pressing the barrel of one of his guns to the forehead of the girl he wanted.

“I don’t know what you want but please don’t kill me,” she pleaded.

“Your client list,” said Sin-Eater.  “It’s not really yours, is it?  You bought it off another girl, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” admitted the girl.  “Her name was Mary.  I didn’t know her very well but I heard she was looking to sell her list and there were some nice clients on it so I bought it off of her.”

“That woman was my mother,” stated Sin-Eater.  “I’ve been watching you for a while, studying you to see who your clients are because they were once my mother’s.  I’ve killed a lot of them but it was all to lead me to you.  My mother was a filthy whore and you look to follow in her footsteps.  I didn’t get the chance to kill her but I can at least kill you.”

“I could quote you some statistics about how many people die from firearms each year but I believe the point would be moot,” interjected Requiem.

Sin-Eater turned towards the sound of Sebastian’s voice and reflexively closed his eyes at the flash of light that emanated from Neon’s hands.  It was enough of a distraction for Requiem to launch a blast of magical energy at him and send him into a wall.  Sin-Eater pulled himself back to his feet and shrugged off the bullets that hit him in the chest, courtesy of Adrian Manheim.  It only confirmed Requiem’s suspicions that the man in front of him was once dead and had somehow come back to life.  Sin-Eater pointed his own weapon at Manheim and prepared to pull the trigger but Requiem teleported behind him and attempted to relieve him of his weapon.

“Why would you care about a girl like that?” asked Sin-Eater as he hit Requiem in the jaw with the handle of his gun.

“Actually, I’m more concerned with you,” answered Requiem, rubbing his jaw after the vicious blow it sustained.  “You see, I can talk to the spirits of dead people and I’ve been led to believe that you were once dead yourself.  You can see why I might find you interesting.”

“I don’t think you’ll be able to have that conversation after all,” said Sin-Eater as he fired his gun at Requiem.  “I’m sure it must be very hard for you, living the way that you do.  Allow me to relieve you of that burden.”

The black bullet hit Requiem straight in the heart and took him off his feet.  Sebastian’s body began to convulse unlike the police officers that Sin-Eater had already slain earlier.  Sin-Eater turned his back on Requiem and took a blast of light in his chest.  He swatted Manheim aside like he was nothing more than an insect and stood face to face with Neon.  Stephanie couldn’t describe what she was feeling in that moment.  She considered Sebastian a good friend, a close friend who had been there for her after the death of her only parent.  To watch him gunned down in front of her set off something inside of her.

“I’m not going to let someone else I love get taken away from me,” stated Neon, her hands crackling with light.  “You want to punish people who are guilty? Look somewhere else because that man you just killed was one of the kindest, most decent men I’ve ever met in my life.”

“My mission is of no concern to you,” stated Sin-Eater.  “You want to avenge your friend?  I welcome you to try.”

Neon didn’t retort with words.  She blasted Sin-Eater in the face with a bolt of light that actually caused him to stagger backwards.  He blindly fired at her with his weapons but she managed to get out of the hotel room and take cover before one of the cursed bullets could connect with her.  Sin-Eater growled under his breath as his vision cleared and he stepped out into the open.  Two bolts of light tagged him in the back of the head and knocked him forward.  That was all the opening that Neon needed.  She used Sin-Eater’s momentum against him and tackled him to the ground.  Finesse had given her a few lessons in hand-to-hand combat but it was only the basics.  Her rational mind knew that no punch she could throw would hurt Sin-Eater because he was already dead.  It didn’t matter to her though.  The only thing she could think of was that someone she loved had died in front of her eyes again.  She wasn’t going to be helpless like she was with her uncle.  This time she was going to be the one to avenge that death.

“I cared about him,” she said to Sin-Eater as she punched him in the face.  “You don’t even understand that.  You don’t even care.  All you people do is kill and kill, take and take.  You’re not taking anything from me anymore!”

The punches weren’t doing anything.  She knew that but she didn’t care.  She just wanted all of it to stop, all the death and the secrets and the lies.  She wanted her normal life back.  She wanted everything to go back to normal and to close her eyes from the blinding light of the truth.  She couldn’t close her eyes anymore though, no matter how painful it might be.  Sin-Eater ignored the punches, even going so far as to grab Neon around the throat and hoist her into the air. Stephanie squirmed and thrashed but it wasn’t going to do her any good when her opponent was clearly stronger than her.

“I’m afraid you’re wrong about that,” corrected Sin-Eater as black energy coalesced in his free hand and created another of his firearms.  “I’m going to take your life from you now.”

A bolt of energy lanced through the air and struck Sin-Eater in the head, almost taking it clean off his shoulders.  The undead vigilante staggered backwards as another bolt hit him square in the chest and took him down.  Neon turned and saw Requiem standing there with energy pouring from his eyes.  Something was different.  The color of the energy he normally used was blue but this energy was a sickly shade of green.  Stephanie was about to say something when Sebastian disappeared and then reappeared right in front of Sin-Eater.

“If you touch her again I will make sure you stay dead this time,” he warned Sin-Eater.  Sebastian positioned his glowing hand right in front of Sin-Eater’s face, preparing to deliver the final blow and end the walking corpse’s life one more time.

“Sebastian, don’t,” warned Neon.

It was all the distraction the Sin-Eater needed to break Requiem’s grip and then squeeze off one final burst from his gun.  Sebastian used the energy emanating from his hand as a shield to make sure the bullets didn’t connect but it was enough to buy Sin-Eater the time he needed to retreat.  When Requiem pulled his hand away from his face, his enemy was gone.  He let the momentary rage dissipate and watched as the energy changed from green back to its normal blue. Something about the energy Sin-Eater used for his bullets had reacted with the magical energy Requiem channeled and the results were violent to say the least.

“I’m okay,” stated Requiem before Neon could even ask the question.  “Are you injured?”

“No, I’m okay,” assured Neon.  “I . . . I thought you were dead.”

“Only for a moment,” admitted Sebastian, allowing a smile to grace his lips.  “You and the rest of the team can’t get rid of me that easily, Stephanie.”

SHIELD Safehouse 23

“Guess I’m not exactly much of a gal Friday, am I?” asked Neon as she scooted over on the couch so Requiem could sit down.

“I’m not much of a detective,” admitted Requiem.  “I don’t think a good detective dies on his first case.  I confess I haven’t really seen any detectives in action but I still don’t think it’s something they do.”

“You saved those girls’ lives though,” reminded Neon.  “That counts for something, doesn’t it?”

Sebastian wordlessly nodded and smiled.  Stephanie unconsciously fidgeted and then returned his smile with one of her own.  She couldn’t shake the feelings she had felt when she thought he was dead.  It was weird how thinking something like that could make you be honest with yourself about how you felt towards that person.  She cared about Sebastian, that much was obvious.  Stephanie had never really had much experience with relationships though.  After going through everything she had been through though, she knew that you had to be honest with the people you loved.

“I don’t know what happened with my powers,” said Requiem.  “Whatever magic the Sin-Eater was using, it had a bad reaction with mine.  You know, I’ve been thinking about looking into where my magic comes from.  I think it would benefit me greatly if I could figure out —”

He didn’t say anything after that because Neon had pressed her lips against his.  It was awkward, almost painfully so, but it was also beautiful.  Neither of them really thought about anything.  They just let their emotions guide them.  Stephanie pulled away after a moment and smiled at him, almost giggling at the silly yet endearing look on his face.

“I’d like to go out with you,” she told him.  “I know this is really sudden but I feel like if I don’t say it then it might be too late.  You’re always talking about how at any moment we could die and I think maybe it’s time I started living.  So do you want to?”

“Yes,” he answered her, trying not to let on that she was officially his first kiss yet failing so miserably at it.  “I think I’d like that.”

Neither of them said anything after that.  She just curled up next to him on the couch and he let his arms wrap around her.  They stayed like that for the rest of the night, just watching TV and enjoying each other’s company.

Somewhere in Manhattan

“You were right about his powers,” said Sin-Eater.  “The magic I used brought out in him what you said it would.”

“You mean the magic I empowered you with,” corrected the woman in black.  “Never forget that it was me who brought you back to the land of the living.  Did you see the energy he used against you?  Was it as I said it would be?”

“Yes, it was,” confirmed Sin-Eater.  “He has the artifact you’ve been looking for.  He couldn’t have been able to use that power if he hadn’t been exposed to it at some point.”

“Then I want to have a word with him about its location,” decided the woman.  “Be a dear and bring me Sebastian Druid.  As you know from experience, I don’t really care whether he’s dead or alive.”

Next Issue: Inglorious Bastards