The first thing she saw was the blinding light of a lamp prohibiting her from peering further into her environment. Not like she could move, what with the rope binding her wrists, to which Blossom could only scoff at this display of reckless power. The bulb embedded into the circular lamp flickered, the ropes disintegrating immediately, she rubbed at her wrists and pulled up her ripped shirt to reveal the slice in her skin. Courtesy of the Crow's daughter.
'I underestimated her. To think she so easily demolished me to the point where I was rendered unconscious. She is a worthy successor of the Crow mantle, as suspected.'
Thoughts racing through her mind reached an eventual end as the door creaked and a foot was seen entering the pale-tiled chamber, light from the morning's sun peeking into this blackened room, Katie's azure eyes were as recognizable as ever. Right hand on the outer knob, left fingers gripping the Blackened Blade's white sheath, the eyebags under her lids gave the believable illusion of Moon's apathy.
"Ready to talk, bitch?"
"Damn, you ain't gotta be rude about it, I was gonna tell you shit either way," Blossom replied with a pained tone of voice, holding her chest and wiping the imaginary tears from her eyes' corners,
"Shut up and get out here."
Blossom had the Blade's grip poke her back, directed toward the kitchen, the Nest had the sign turn to closed, and as it was surely locked, Kate turned her head. Eyelids slid to hide her pupils' coloration, though momentarily, her brain flashed back to memories that didn't exist, not of her lifetime. A young girl saved by a teenage boy in the guise of a blackened bird wearing a braid over his shoulder... was that her father?
"So that's your name..."
"How the hell do you know my name?!"
Back in the kitchen, seated on a varnish-wooden table with her palms flat against the surface riddled with plates and silver utensils, Kate stood at the end, no longer with her dad's weapon in hand.
"Dad's memories; searched through 'em. Natalia Smith, huh? You're the one who led the Murder of Crows organization in the name of his alter-ego he abandoned when he became part of the Riveras. Whaddya want with me? Do you come from Riverton or the Capital? If from the Island: did Rivers send you?"
Kate's game of endless twenty-thousand questions sent a vein to appear in the corner to Natalia's forehead, straining her uncaring smile with eyes closed, it kept going on and on. More inquiries, like she was being interrogated in the confines of a law enforcer. She couldn't help but think, in the process of being asked this surplus of queries,
'I'm glad I've never been caught by the cops.'
"OKAY, OKAY, I GET IT! God, you never shut the fuck up, do ya?" Natalia asked, scratching at the side of her neck, revealing her teeth as she opened her mouth, Kate was visibly angered by the words stated,
"What's that s'posed to mean, huh?" Kate questioned through clenched rows of bone while Smith dug into her ear with one pinky,
"Nothin'. Anyway, to answer your questions: I have news. The Crow assassin has resurfaced, however, under the command of Callum Rivers himself. He wields Karlo's strength from the Old World, but the body is programmed to be Rivers' minion, without the soul. It's not only him, though. I have reason to suspect Augustus Rivera, too, has resurfaced, in the Reaper's guise. Like how he would be drawn to Ace and June Wilder, the Crow will be drawn to you and me." The fork she'd lifted had pointed its prong to Moon's bust, unwavering from the threat of her father's ability, she swiped the utensil out her hands and sighed,
"So, what're their orders? Capture me, June, Ace, and Kima, bring us back to Riverton, then what...? Do you know what happened after we fled there in August? If... Alexander Amara is still alive, to this day?" Katie's worried voice sent Natalia to quirk a brow up over her eye, turning her head ever so slightly, slipping her legs off from the propped-up posture onto the table, letting her arms rest off her knees, pondering quietly.
"I don't know about Alexander Amara, but I think what happened has something to do with the entity living within Callum's body," Natalia proposed steadily, witnessing Kay sit right across from her, knuckles sinking into her cheek,
"What do you mean?"
"Callum simply wanted revenge against the government for what happened to his family back in 2010, what with Texas being bombed off the map and everything. He successfully eradicated any outer influence and established himself as the top dog, having formed ANZEN from the ground up. So, why would he want more? He's at the top of his world, so why should he keep rising?"
Natalia suddenly had a sandwich appear to the front of her, carefully placed into the plate's center, one hand taking the side so she could sink her teeth into the lengthy hero bread.
"I'm not gonna question where you got that but- maybe he's just ambitious. Sometimes, just the taste of power isn't enough and they crave more. Maybe that's the type of person that Rivers is. Even after he gets the Kingdom and freedom he so desires, he'll keep rising. Because… why should he stop there?" Katie cringed at the way her reluctant ally so dirtily demolished the outsides of the sandwich, "You're disgusting."
"I suppose you're right, but, you of all people would know if that suspicion were true or not. After all, didn't Mr. Karlo inform you of the truth about the birth of Riverton when you went to visit him..?"
Nat took another quick bite of her sandwich, smug with the way she ripped off the chunk from the front, Kate's expanded eyes at that reference to the past, wandering back to that barren wasteland she called her mind. Back when she first met her dad, that warm home he named his abode, surrounded by nothing but the flames of love, courtesy of her beloved parent. She didn't know that man personally, but there was something she could tell from the way her old man spoke about him like he were something out of a fantasy novel. A king with everlasting ambitions that showed no limit to how far they could grow, just for the sake of justice for those he lost.
"It's like he could en doing it for the sake of achieving a sort of normal life. Maybe whatever's living inside of him promised Callum a normal life after everything; maybe the two of them made a deal. You can never know the truth of someone you've never met," Katie's suggestion was something Smith couldn't simply deny, all she could do was wipe the crumbs off her lips as she pondered.
For someone to have brought old souls from the Old World into their new one; and capable of utilizing the Requiem technique, at that… there had to be some ulterior motive. Like a claw scratching at her head's back she was unable to ensure faded, Kate scratched at her chin, and stepped forward, spreading open her mouth,
"Maybe-"
Suddenly, the both of them vanished, and the next thing they knew, the fresh spring air whisked at their faces. A hole had formed in the ceiling of the Nest's kitchen, and now, they stood together, side by side, though the way their legs wobbled indicated a sense of fear. To the front of them, both were none other than him, donning the Crow cowl that shielded his features behind a blackened perimeter in the shape of an avian animal, his breaths… Katie couldn't help but squint at the way his eyes shade, too.
"Yo, bitch, check it!" Kay tapped at Natalia's right arm disrespectfully,
"My name's Natalia! Natalia Smith: now get it right, stupid!" She replied maliciously with a hateful intent visible in her eyes' cores, to which Katie swatted her incessant pats away to simply point ahead.
"He's breathing, his eyes. The former is robotic and the latter's death. The Crow is nothing but a hollow shell simply gifted with enough power to mimic my father's Old World counterpart. He doesn't have a soul; likely locked away. If we manage to jolt that back, we can bring back my dad… and ask the truth about Callum's plans, about everything, and how we fit into it."
Katie and Natalia looked to one another then simply nodded, to which the Crow finally rose, spinning siding his Blackened Blade around his body before the tip shined against the morning sun, pointed right ahead; intending fully to pierce the chest of his counterpart's daughter.
"Surrender and perish at the hands of true justice. End this cycle before it even begins; become… sages."
The duo stepped forward, with one door, tiles flew apart, fingers tightening as they gripped the grip of the ready-katana. Letting it rise to the air so the illumination of the Blessed sun could grace the weapon with a holy aura, Katie pointed it outward, mimicking the assassin's pose. Blossom watched as two rosebuds appeared to her right and left as if brightened neon signs, one pink and the other red. Clenching her fists, feeling her neck crack… for the finishing touch, a stray thumb snapped against the weakened pressure of an index's knuckle, unleashing the satisfying audio of a bone relieving its tired stasis.
"Let's end this shit." Kate declared with a ready tone in her vocals, leading the aura of darkness she led to her ankles', she needn't dare move any further.
For what stood locked within the confines of a lusting soul desiring nothing but the suffering of the deserving. Natalia couldn't escape the chills manifesting over her skin, for all she could worry about was this immense pressure she could sense oozing off her ally's back… for then it hit her, like a speeding truck ramming down the road. Almost as if the Devil Incarnate had laid in waiting into the barren spirit of the Detective's daughter, just as Smith dared to attempt to setback; she could recognize the shape of the aura. This…
Was dark determination at its rawest, produced naturally with hate boiling in the heart's essence, Katie could only think of the fight ahead. And so, the last words that slipped out her lips were the following,
"Come at me, Crow. Allow me to show you- what true power is."
To Be Continued.