WALKING DEAD

Part I

By Wesley Overhults

Manhattan

“This is awkward for you.”

Sebastian Druid looked at his new girlfriend quizzically, his attention returning to her after being diverted by the voices he heard in his head on a constant basis. Stephanie looked lovely on what they had termed was their actual first date. Having never really needed clothes aside from the uniforms he wore while he was institutionalized, Requiem didn’t exactly dress up for the occasion. Neon didn’t mind that though. Ever since they began their relationship, Sebastian had been doing his best to be attentive but she could see that things were hard for him.

“No, I’m fine,” he promised her. “I’m just . . . not very experienced with this.”

It was an understatement but his ineptitude wasn’t the source of his concern. For maybe the first time in his life, Sebastian wasn’t worried about dying. He wasn’t worried about the fact that food-related illnesses killed an average of three thousand people every year. He wasn’t worried about the chances of being one of the two hundred and eighty Americans who died each year as the result of an electrical fire, though he was sure that some of the lights in the restaurant were slightly malfunctioning. No, he had more mundane concerns on his mind this evening. Did he make a smart decision to tie his hair back so it wasn’t in his face like usual? Did Stephanie appreciate the fact that he had shaved? Was he wearing the right cologne and was it a smart idea to take advice from Wipeout on what cologne to wear?

“Might come as a shock to you but I’m not either,” confessed Neon, sliding her hand across the table and resting it on top of his. “Relax, Sebastian. Everything is fine and it’s just dinner. Besides, things could be worse. Frankie wanted to take Finesse and double with us. Can you imagine how that would’ve gone over?”

“Not very well,” he admitted with a grin. “He’s tenacious though. I suppose we’re lucky to have him. I get the feeling that, like the rest of us, he has nowhere else to go.”

“Story of our lives,” said Neon. “It’s good to get out of that house though.”

“Yes, it is,” he agreed. He was starting to forget that this was a date and starting to remind himself of why he was in love with Stephanie. He hadn’t met many girls in his life and none of them were as kind and decent as she was.

“I never thought my life would turn out this way,” she continued absently, talking just to fill the silence so she didn’t have to think about things. “There was this guy at school, he was into drama stuff too. I was sure he was going to ask me out but I dunno . . .”

He waited for her to continue and then saw the look on her face. Sebastian didn’t know what it was like to have a normal life, to grow up without hearing voices in your head and thinking that you were crazy. He wondered sometimes if he was better or worse off than Stephanie was. It was times like this that made him think maybe he was better off having never led a normal life if losing that life hurt as badly as he could see she was hurting. He instinctively took her hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly.

“Everything’s fine,” he told her gently.

“Sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous,” she apologized and he smiled, glad to know that at least he wasn’t the only one between the two of them who felt that way.

“Remind me again why we had to come here.”

Finesse glared at Wipeout, not necessarily expecting a response since his attention was diverted by the barely-dressed woman dancing on the stage. She didn’t understand the purpose of strip clubs except to take money out of the pockets of lustful men. Jeanne could, of course, appreciate the idea of a woman using every weapon at her disposal to enhance her standard of living but she couldn’t agree with a woman debasing herself in the process.

“Because we got a tip that there’s a big MGH dealer who frequents this place,” reminded Composite, appreciatively noting the lady on the stage but keeping his attention on Finesse. “We shut down Lady Octopus’s operation but there are still a few dealers out there with product on them.”

“Best job perk ever,” added Wipeout though no one asked for his input. “Seriously, who else gets to get fake IDs so they can get into a strip club for work? It almost makes me forget that we’re not getting paid for this.”

“You’re enjoying this entirely too much,” decided Finesse, taking a sip of her water and being thankful that she abstained from alcohol due to its ability to dull her reflexes and reaction time. “Where is this idiot drug dealer? I don’t have the stomach for going all night with this.”

“I’ve been watching him,” assured Composite, motioning discretely to a man at the other end of the bar. “I managed to get a picture of his face with my phone and sent it to Quake. The facial recognition software confirmed it was him.”

“Then there’s no need for any of this crap,” decided Finesse, getting up from her seat and intending to make her way towards the man.

“Sit,” ordered Composite, grabbing Finesse’s arm to halt her.

“I am not a dog,” warned Finesse, her eyes narrowing as she wrenched her arm from Henry’s grasp. “I understand given my inclination towards bitchiness that you might get that impression but the next time you make that mistake, I will correct you physically rather than verbally.”

“You can’t just go over there and kick his ass while we’re inside,” explained Composite. “Wait until we can get him alone and then you can kick his ass.”

“I’m surprised at your foresight,” admitted Finesse, realizing her team leader was right and sitting back down. “I confess that I don’t give you enough credit.”

“Most of the time, I don’t either,” said Composite. “I have to say, when you’re not being a bitch you’re pretty good at this leader stuff yourself.”

“In that regard, I try not to step on your toes,” said Finesse. “Unfortunately I have the annoying habit of letting my emotions cloud my judgment at the most inopportune of moments. A recent case of that would be our run-in with Fagin and his obvious employer.”

“We all got conned by Helix,” reminded Composite. “Don’t worry though, we’ll get our shot.”

“It’s the waiting that nags me,” said Finesse, her eyes flitting to their target for the evening and seeing that he was about to make himself scarce. “I am a woman of action.”

Finesse was about to spring into action when the sound of gunfire rang out over the noise of the club’s stereo. Everyone sprang into a panic as a man in a ski mask entered the club with a pistol in each hand. The Warriors recognized the man’s distinctive look from the description given to them by their teammates. It was none other than the undead vigilante known as the Sin-Eater. The gun-toting ghoul let the barrel of his weapon sweep the room in a spray of bullets, causing everyone to hit the floor or find some other form of cover.

“Not exactly used to dodging bullets,” admitted Composite, armoring up by mimicking the metal of the table leg just in case he needed some extra durability. “From what Steph said, those bullets will go through anything.”

“Only if they get the chance to touch something,” said Wipeout, twisting his watery body around the bullets’ paths and hitting Sin-Eater with a blast of water that didn’t faze the undead avenger in the slightest.

“You and Frankie handle him while I make sure the dealer doesn’t get away,” ordered Composite, making a run for the back exit to follow their original target.

“A tactical error, not surprising,” muttered Finesse under her breath before materializing a duo of energy katanas and taking a run at Sin-Eater, referring to the fact that Wipeout was the fastest of the three of them and therefore should have been the one to pursue the dealer.

“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of running into you or the other one before,” admitted Sin-Eater, ducking and weaving to avoid Finesse’s attacks. “You fight like you want to kill me. It’s already been done for you.”

“I know, that’s why I don’t have to hold back,” countered Finesse, going for a horizontal slash that would have taken Sin-Eater’s head off.

Sin-Eater blocked the blade of the energy sword with one of his guns, raising the one in his other hand and preparing to fire at Finesse from point-blank range. A blast of water hit him in the back of the legs and took them out from under him. Finesse jumped to avoid the stream of water so it didn’t trip her up and brought her sword in a downward strike that sought to impale Sin-Eater through the heart. The blade found its mark but it didn’t do any damage to someone who was already dead. The only thing it seemed to do was irritate Sin-Eater. He reached up and clutched Finesse by the throat, getting up with her sword still sticking out of his chest. Wipeout tried to hit him with another blast of water but Sin-Eater used Finesse as a shield and then fired at Frankie with the gun that materialized in his free hand. He tossed Finesse aside even as she kicked him in the head twice. She moved to break her fall, twirling in the air so she landed on her feet.

“I got him,” assured Wipeout as he flowed around Sin-Eater, hitting him with blasts from different angles in an attempt to disorient him.

“How?” questioned Finesse, realizing that Frankie wasn’t actually doing any harm to Sin-Eater. She ran towards the stage even as Wipeout used his water blasts to push Sin-Eater back against its edge. Finesse jumped and gripped the pole in the middle of the stage, using it to swing herself around and bury both of her feet into Sin-Eater’s face.

“I don’t think I have anything to say about that,” realized Wipeout.

“Then shut up and do something useful,” retorted Finesse, stabbing Sin-Eater in the arm with one of her swords in an effort to pin the appendage to the stage and take away part of his offense.

“You’ve wasted too much of my time,” stated Sin-Eater, ripping his arm free and kicking Finesse backwards before running towards the club’s exit.

“We need to stop him before he gets to that dealer,” said Wipeout.

“He’s not going for the dealer,” realized Finesse. “If he was then he would’ve gone out the back exit instead of the front one. The big question is: where is he going?”

Finesse and Wipeout gave chase but by the time they got through the exit, they saw that Sin-Eater had already started killing again. Limp, lifeless bodies with no wounds on them littered the area but it at least gave the two Secret Warriors a trail to follow. However, it seemed they weren’t going to like where that trail was leading them.

“That’s the restaurant where Sebastian and Steph are,” said Wipeout as he saw where Sin-Eater was going.

“All the more reason to stop gawking and keep running,” snapped Finesse as she sprinted across the street, dodging cars as fast as she could. She glanced back behind her and saw Wipeout hot on her heels.

Neon looked at Requiem and noticed something stranger than usual about him. His eyes sparked with magical energy for a brief moment and it wasn’t his normal energy signature. He blinked as if trying to will the energy away but it seemed as if it was getting worse.

“That’s the same color as the energy you used when you fought the Sin-Eater,” hissed Neon, trying to keep her voice low so it didn’t fall on prying ears.

“I know,” replied Requiem. “I don’t know why it’s manifesting.”

The answer to Requiem’s quandary came in the form of Sin-Eater bursting through the front window of the restaurant. He fired indiscriminately but this time he was using it to scare the restaurant’s patrons enough to get them to clear out. His need to feed on the sins of the guilty had sidetracked him into the strip club when his real target was Sebastian Druid. Kenton’s benefactress wanted Requiem because the young man possessed knowledge that she needed. Sin-Eater knew he was just the delivery boy and he was fine with that.

“I suppose I should’ve expected something like this,” admitted Requiem. “Our job does come with a rather high frequency of life-and-death situations involving people trying to kill us.”

“Yeah, I was hoping he wouldn’t show back up again either,” said Neon. “What should we do?”

Requiem didn’t think about what was going to happen as Sin-Eater pointed his gun at Neon. Sebastian shoved himself in front of his girlfriend and teleported both of them out of the line of fire. He didn’t fear the reaction his magical abilities received from normal people. Considering how much time he had spent in mental institutions, Sebastian had learned not to really care what normal people thought of him. His main concern was, as always, the safety of the girl he loved.

“You think you can hide from me forever but you can’t,” warned Sin-Eater as he realized that both Requiem and Neon had evaded his sight. “Every second you spend cowering in a corner is one less second these people here have to draw breath. I’m going to kill all of them I can until you come out and face me.”

“The last threat you’ll ever make,” warned Finesse as she flipped through the broken window and used one of her energy swords to chop off Sin-Eater’s hand. “I assume it’s much harder to shoot without a hand.”

“You assume I’ll be without it for long,” retorted Sin-Eater as he held up the stump that was once his right hand and grinned maniacally under his mask as the hand grew back in seconds.

“Why can’t you just be like every other zombie and want to eat people’s brains?” wondered Wipeout as he flowed into the room and decided to ignore Sin-Eater in favor of finding and protecting his two teammates.

“I’ve got her safe,” promised Requiem after Wipeout found both him and Neon towards the back of the restaurant. “Get the bystanders out. The odds of being a casualty . . .”

Wipeout nodded and didn’t wait for Sebastian to finish. He motioned for the bystanders to herd towards the emergency exit. When Sin-Eater turned and fired at them, Wipeout let out a stream of water to intercept the cursed bullets. Though the force of the stream slowed the projectiles down, it didn’t stop them and Frankie barely got out of the way before they struck him. He watched the bullets go through the door without leaving a mark and heard something on the other side hit the pavement. He cursed and realized it was one of the bystanders. He was going to have to help them get as far away from the building as they could.

“One more death from you is too many,” stated Requiem, hitting Sin-Eater with a bolt of magical energy. “You seem to have some sort of obsession with me. I find you an interesting anomaly but I’m afraid I can’t let you endanger others.”

“But it’s such a useful tool to draw you out,” said Sin-Eater, shrugging off the blast of energy. “You don’t have to waste our time with the low-level blasts, Sebastian. I want to see the power I saw the last time we fought.”

“The only thing you’re going to be seeing next is the inside of a padded cell,” promised Neon before tossing a ball of light at Sin-Eater and then exploding it like a flash grenade to blind him. “I swear to God I can’t even go on a normal date without you people ruining my life.”

“I’m sure your teen angst is an effective weapon but now’s really not the time to test the theory,” said Finesse, using Sin-Eater’s momentary immobility to possibly subdue him. She used the bo staff she had conjured to flick a chair into the air and then kicked it in Kenton’s face while he was blinded.

Sin-Eater staggered backwards and fired blindly in Neon’s direction. Requiem got her out of the way but the bullet grazed his temple. His eyes flashed with the same green energy he had displayed in the previous fight with the Sin-Eater before emitting that energy from his hand. The energy twisted and spiraled from his fingertips, not going in a straight line like his usual force blasts. The tendrils of magical energy latched onto Sin-Eater and seeped through his clothing and his skin, penetrating what would’ve been his soul if he still had one. One particularly large tentacle of green energy shoved itself down Kenton’s throat.

“That would’ve killed an ordinary man in a single second,” stated Requiem as he stalked towards Sin-Eater while the serial killer was held in the grasp of the tendrils. “The one that’s in your throat right now would’ve wormed its way through your being and yanked out your soul. That’s what you do with your bullets, Justin. You think you’re punishing the guilty and maybe some of them are just that but you’re stealing their souls, eating them because you don’t have one of your own.”

“Sebastian, stop!” ordered Neon. “Even if he is already dead, that doesn’t give you the right.”

“And if we’re both already dead?” questioned Requiem, his voice taking on an otherworldly tone as if some other force was speaking through him. “I’m not alive, Stephanie. I exist but I don’t live, not the way you or the others do.”

Sin-Eater used the distraction to his advantage, managing to gain enough control of his body to raise his hand and shoot Requiem in the head. Sebastian went down and the green energy dissipated instantly. Sin-Eater unloaded more bullets at the rest of the Warriors, causing them to scatter. He picked up Sebastian’s body and slung it over his shoulder before departing into the night, shooting at anyone who got in his way.

“We need to go after him,” stated Neon.

“No, we need to regroup and figure out what’s going on,” corrected Finesse even as Composite arrived on the scene. “Nice of you to show up, fearless leader.”

“The dealer’s in custody and I tried to go after Sin-Eater but I had to protect the bystanders,” explained Composite. “I saw that he took Sebastian.”

“And she won’t let me go after him,” said Neon.

“We don’t know who this man is, what his motives are, or who might be providing him with his powers,” reminded Finesse. “I assume dead bodies don’t just dig themselves out of the grave and shoot people with magic bullets. He has to have someone guiding his actions and our best hope of saving Sebastian is finding out who or what that someone is.”

“I gave you a simple assignment and you ruined it.”

The woman in the black robes was known as Agrona and she was fast becoming annoyed with her newest subordinate. She assumed that Justin Kenton was once a competent individual capable of carrying out tasks that were assigned to him. Apparently she had assumed too much.

“I retrieved him as you requested,” reminded Sin-Eater, looking to Sebastian’s body on the floor beside him.

“And you killed him,” reminded Agrona even as she looked to more members of her order and silently told them to pick up Requiem’s body and prepare it. “We have his body but it’s useless without his soul. Now I have to figure out where it is so I can put it back in his body and he can tell us where the sword is.”

“I thought he would revive himself like he did the other time,” admitted Sin-Eater.

“Well you thought wrong then,” snapped Agrona. “I’m really beginning to think I chose the wrong herald if this is the level of intelligence you regularly display. “You’re lucky I don’t restore you to the useless corpse that you once were.”

“I’m sorry for my failure,” apologized Sin-Eater, realizing that he was in danger of actually dying again. He knew he had to do everything he could to repay the debt he owed to Agrona for giving him back his life. It was the only reason why he continued to serve her.

“You should be,” retorted Agrona. “Get back out there on the streets and amuse yourself however you please. Just make sure those other children don’t come knocking on my door in an attempt to rescue their friend.”

“I understand,” said Sin-Eater before departing.

Agrona growled in irritation and then went into the room where her other lackeys were preparing Sebastian’s body for the ritual. She had waited many long years to finally claim what she felt should have been hers to begin with. If Requiem’s simpering excuse for a mother had not hidden the sword away from her, Agrona would probably have conquered and enslaved all of humanity by now. Instead, she had to spend years tracking down the sword’s location only to come up empty-handed time after time. This time she was going to find the prize she sought and she wasn’t going to let a little thing like death stand in her way.

SHIELD Helicarrier

“He’s not dead,” stated Neon emphatically.

“He got shot in the head at point-blank range,” countered Finesse. “We may as well be making funeral arrangements at this point.”

“He got shot the first time we fought that guy and he didn’t die,” said Neon. “I’m telling you that Sebastian isn’t dead.”

“Whether he is or isn’t is irrelevant at this point,” cut in Quake. “The fact is that Sin-Eater took Sebastian’s body with him for a reason. We have to assume that whoever or whatever it was that brought Kenton back to life, it can do the same for Sebastian.”

“So then we’ll have two zombies running around,” said Wipeout and then withered under a death glare from Neon.

“The only lead we have to finding Requiem is through Sin-Eater,” said Composite, trying to take the role as leader of his team. “If we can get him into our custody then maybe we can make him tell us what’s going on and how to get Sebastian back.”

“And exactly what can you threaten a dead man with?” inquired Finesse. “Kenton is fearless now because he has nothing left to lose.”

“If you’re trying to flip someone then sometimes it’s more about what that someone has to gain than it is about what they have to lose,” noted Quake. “Let me worry about that. You guys just need to get Kenton into custody and we’ll handle the interrogation.”

“Which still leaves us with the problem of figuring out how to do that,” said Composite. “What can we do that’s going to make him come to us?”

“Involve the one thing he seems fixated on,” realized Finesse. “The file on him states that his mother was a prostitute and the report Stephanie and Sebastian filed about their first encounter with him says that he was attempting to murder another prostitute. Tonight, he goes out of his way and almost ruins his mission all to shoot up a strip club. Does anyone notice the pattern here?”

“He’s got a major issue with sex and the people who use it to make a living,” answered Quake. “So you’re suggesting we try to set up a sting? That would be great if we knew what our target area was but this is a big city. I can’t have SHIELD agents tracking down and questioning every single one of its hookers.”

“I hate to say it but I’m with Finesse on this one,” spoke up Neon. “We’re wasting time and God only knows what Sin-Eater and whoever else could be doing to Sebastian while we try to come up with a plan. He’s got a pattern and we need to exploit it.”

“I can call Detective Manheim and see how big of an area we’re talking about and then we can set something up,” admitted Quake. “The only problem is that if someone’s going to pose as a hooker then it can’t be anyone whose face he’s already seen.”

“Well that just leaves one person in this room, doesn’t it?” said Finesse, an evil grin splitting her face as she looked at Quake.

“I really hate this job,” muttered Quake as she realized what Finesse was suggesting and that she was completely right.

Somewhere Else

Sebastian Druid felt cold. He opened his eyes and got up off the ground. Dusting himself off, he took in his surroundings. Memories of what had occurred were hazy in his mind but he remembered being with Stephanie and the others. Sin-Eater was there as well and the Warriors were battling him. After that, there was nothing but darkness.

“I don’t believe I’m in New York anymore,” he said to himself as he looked into the inky blackness that surrounded him on all sides.

A chilly fog rolled in from somewhere he couldn’t see and it settled heavy in the air, causing him to shiver. He could see shadows moving in the dark, formless masses with movements that were difficult to track. Sebastian didn’t make a habit of being scared. Death was something he was very comfortable with because it was something he lived with every day. This situation was unnerving though and for maybe the first time in his life, he was scared about what was out there in the dark.

“You should be,” said a female voice as if it was reading his thoughts.

“I’d like to know exactly where I am,” demanded Requiem though there wasn’t a lot of confidence in his voice.

One of the things that had been flitting around in the dark suddenly emerged from the shadows and took shape. A woman with pale skin dressed in black stood before Requiem. Her eyes were a dull green and her hair, which Sebastian suspected was once a more vibrant shade of red, was equally muted in color. She looked like a walking corpse and somehow Sebastian suspected that was exactly what she was. This suspicion only added to his nervousness.

“You’re . . . somewhere that’s in between,” explained the woman. “It’s nice to finally see you. I never thought I would be able to set my eyes on you.”

“In between what?” inquired Requiem.

“Heaven and Hell, life and death, whatever you want to call it,” explained the woman. “I never wished this for you, my dear Sebastian. After all, what loving mother could ever wish death upon her only child?”

Next Issue: The Warriors capture Sin-Eater and attempt to discover Agrona’s location while Sebastian struggles to bring himself back to life.