The Shadow of All Worlds

by Shane Porteous

  Chapter 10

  Crimson Claw along with the grunts of the Red Army, Aneeku, Ryder, Fang and Scratch, arrived at one of the Ebulon mines. The Red Army, Aneeku, and Ryder went right in and began attacking the soldiers and miners inside. “Wait,” Crimson Claw said to his partners.

  “Why?” Scratch asked. He was eager to get inside with the others.

  “I think we should talk tactics first,” Crimson Claw answered though he was actually unsure of why he felt a bit hesitant to send Fang and Scratch into this battle.

  “Okay,” Scratch replied slowly. His leader rarely came up with battle strategies feeling they were only a waste of time that could otherwise be used for fighting, but if this is what Crimson Claw wanted to do he wouldn’t question his reasons.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “I think you should focus on battling in tight areas whenever you can. This is where your abilities will be most useful. Try to keep the enemies away from open areas.”

  “Got it.”

  “What about me?” Fang asked.

  Crimson Claw thought for a moment before responding, “Normally I would say use your killing poison, however since it doesn’t usually work instantly I think you should use your sleeping poison to weaken enemies and your strength to force them into tight areas where Scratch can kill them quickly.”

  “Will do,” Fang answered with a grin that showed off his very sharp and poisonous fangs.

  Once Crimson Claw felt they had a plan he released Fang and Scratch into the mine to start battling. Shortly after, Crimson Claw followed them. Upon entering the mine, in the distance he could see Fang and Scratch working together and effectively taking down enemies using his tactics. The cat would have been proud had he the time to feel this way before he was attacked. “Whose side are you on!” He spat at his attacker.

  “If I hadn’t attacked you, he would have,” Ryder answered with a growl as he clawed into a soldier’s neck. “At least I wasn’t attempting to kill you. Though that would have been all too easy for me to do the way you were just standing there.”

  Though bloody, Ryder’s attack wasn’t enough to kill the soldier. Crimson Claw, whether out of anger or thanks, he didn’t know, finished his allies’ attack using his own claws which cut the soldier’s head cleanly off his shoulders. “Or maybe I would have killed you.” Crimson Claw retorted, “We clearly know who the better killer is.”

  Crimson Claw’s gloating over his kill made Ryder angry. “You like being in this fight killing enemies that aren’t even our own?” He asked as he and Crimson Claw began fighting together to take down enemies.

  “Of course,” Crimson Claw replied, “Don’t you like killing?”

  “Not really,” Ryder admitted, “I mean, I have nothing against killing when it’s necessary but I’m not really a killer.”

  “Do you believe it’s necessary for us to be here killing enemies?”

  “If we want to survive it probably is. It especially is, if I’m ever going to get my power back.”

  “What power?”

  “I used to be able to turn into a wolf, or rather I was a wolf that used to be able to turn into a human. Now because I can’t become a wolf anymore my pack threw me out.”

  “Is that the only ability you lost?”

  “Yes.”

  “So now you are basically a werewolf that can’t transform,” Crimson Claw commented.

  “There are similarities,” Ryder answered tersely, “But I’m not a werewolf!”

  “Only werewolves have claws like that, don’t they?” Crimson Claw challenged.

  “Okay, look,” Ryder said angrily. “These claws aren’t real.”

  “They look real,” Crimson Claw observed.

  “I guess what I mean is they aren’t naturally a part of me. They are real claws that I had surgically implanted to prepare for my revenge on Heroes United which will happen one day.”

  “I only came here because I was bored and love to kill. The only thing I want out of my adventure here is the enjoyment of killing freely where no superheroes can stop me.”

  “How can you love to kill?”

  “I’m a villain. It’s how we are supposed to feel about killing, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know it’s hard to imagine anyone loving killing. Maybe you are the only villain who loves it. I can’t imagine there is anyone else who could love killing so much.”

  “Then you aren’t very imaginative.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just look over there at the one with the red mask,” Crimson Claw replied flicking his tail towards the villain he spoke of. As he said this Crimson Claw was flying between two enemies. The Ebulon soldiers were so close together that Crimson Claw was able to wrap his paws around them both and kill them at the same time. The kill wasn’t as neat as his previous ones as he found himself flying backwards quickly in an attempt to avoid getting too much splattered blood in his fur. This attempt proved to be useless and the cat found his fur to be very red after this.

  “Aneeku?” Ryder asked remembering the red masked villain’s name.

  “Yes, Aneeku,” Crimson Claw confirmed. “He loves slaughter.”

  As he watched Ryder could see that the cat was right. The way Aneeku went after the miners and enemy soldiers alike, expertly wielding his sword in a way that often left his enemies dead in just one swipe, clearly showed he was an expert killer and Ryder had no doubts that he was an expert killer because he loved doing it.

  “We appear to have a lot in common,” Crimson Claw purred admirably.

  “Yeah, you’re both nothing but cold blooded killers,” Ryder said though even he had to admit Aneeku’s fighting was impressive.

  “Thanks for the compliment,” Crimson Claw said as Ryder began fighting enemies in the opposite direction. Crimson Claw could tell their brief partnership was over. Glancing back at Ryder, though unlike himself and Aneeku it always took him more than one blow to finish an enemy, Crimson Claw found he liked the boy’s style. With a little training and change of attitude he thought Ryder could be a very effective killer.

  Crimson Claw, after quickly clawing through a nearby soldier, wondered where to go next. He glanced over at Aneeku for a moment thinking it might be fun to compare fighting techniques but knew the other villain didn’t need and probably didn’t want his companionship or help. Since it seemed everyone had things well in hand, he decided to join Fang and Scratch and was glad he did.

  As he got closer to them, he could see that Fang had run out of sleeping poison for the time being. He arrived there just as a panting Fang watched Scratch launch himself off one of the mine walls, do a back flip in midair reaching out his claws to scratch the enemy and come up short. Scratch landed on all four paws right in front of the enemy. He then quickly twisted out of the way as an attacker headed his way. Seeing Crimson Claw nearby, ready to attack, Scratch ran up to him, turned, and crouched. As he did, Scratch gave Fang a look. His partner nodded, indicating he understood the plan.

  The refugees next attack was aimed at Crimson Claw who quickly touched tails with Scratch before flying up and scratching the enemy in an attack only meant to distract. Though he easily could have killed the miner, Crimson Claw knew Scratch wanted to use one of his attack moves. While the miner was distracted Scratch jumped onto Fang’s back which was slightly higher than normal because he was using his powers to levitate. From there Scratch jumped aiming for the highest part of the mine wall that he could reach and launched himself off of it towards the enemy. Like the last time he did a back flip in midair only this time he aimed differently and landed on the miner’s shoulder where he dug his claws in. While the enemy tried to dislodge him, Crimson Claw used this time to slice through his neck, killing him just as he had many of the others. “You know we could have killed him faster if you didn’t have to show off your acrobatic abilities,” Crimson Claw said.

  “I know but sometimes it’s
fun to play games with your prey.” Scratch answered, “Now let’s find more prey to play with.”