Death Angel

Chapter 1

Five years had passed since Victor Von Doom had died, five years since Nyx had died but mysteriously disappeared and managed to leave a feather in Venice. It had been four years since Sue had twins, and then there was three years ago, Johnny watched Zachary play nearby and could remember it perfectly.

            Johnny was at the Baxter Building alone while Ben was with Alicia while Reed and Sue had taken Valerie and Franklin to the park. The lights flashed for a moment and there was the sound of his window being opened and shut again, slightly confused about how a person could get up this high and break in he went to check it out… that’s when he found a small boy sleeping on his bed with a crumpled note on his desk. He walked over to it and saw it was the last letter Nyx had wrote, the one saying she wouldn’t let Victor do anything to hurt them, and newly written on the back in a shiny red liquid, blood, was a new note:

            Take care of Zachary; if I did he would become a monster. I know you’ll recognize the writing but don’t come looking for me Johnny, I’m not the same anymore and will kill you on sight. I barely have enough control to do this and it’s only getting worse. That stunt in Venice was just the beginning…

P.S. Zack tends to cause slight power outages when he gets hungry.

             Johnny turned to face the one year old and was alarmed to see Zachary was watching him, no studying him. He could tell who’s child it was; it wasn’t that difficult to tell, it looked as if Victor Von Doom had made a clone of himself except for the eyes, they were Nyx’s.

            “Impossible.” Johnny muttered. “I must be having a nightmare.”

            Then Zack did the most unexpected thing; he spoke. “Mommy says to stay with you. She’s coming back right?”

            Johnny stayed still for a few moments; it wouldn’t be that hard to kill if it attacked, and if he left it on the street it would die. Finally though he made up his mind and hoped he wouldn’t regret it. “Of course she will. Daddy’s going to watch you while she at… work, yeah she’s just working.”

            “Dad, are you okay?” Zachary’s voice snapped Johnny out of his memories.

            “Just thinking.”

            “Uncle Reed says he wants you.”

            Johnny looked into his three year old son’s intelligent eyes and nodded, still slightly disturbed. “Okay Ben’s going to watch you so behave.”

            “I don’t like Ben… he scares me.” Zack whimpered. “I don’t think he likes me ether… What did I do to him?”

            “Your just imagining things.” Johnny growled slightly and rushed off to talk to Reed.

            Reed didn’t look up as he approached but Valerie and Franklin glanced his way before going back to whatever they were studying on the computer. Johnny cleared his throat and tapped him on the shoulder.

            “Earth to nerd! You wanted me.”

            Reed sighed and looked up. “It’s about Zack.”

            “He’s doing it again isn’t he?” Johnny thought back to a year ago when the boy had started asking about his mom.

            “Yes. And this time he’s being more persistent… and his mind is advancing faster than I originally thought.”

            “What should we do?”

            “Nothing yet.” Reed saw the look on his face. “Zachary won’t turn out like that, he’s happy here and thinks of us as family.”

            Johnny shook his head and saw what Reed was working on. “The appearances are starting again?”

            “Yeah, Sue is checking out the scorch marks now. Are you positive you didn’t go near the docks? They look amazingly like your burn marks.”

            “I told you I didn’t.”

            “Then I fear that there’s another fight coming.” Reed sighed and looked at his kids worriedly.

            That night Sue never came back. Reed stayed up waiting but she didn’t show up, Johnny even went out looking but found nothing. Valerie and Franklin played video games with Zachary but still cast glances towards the door sensing something was wrong. Finally at one in the morning Sue came back, refusing to say what happened or why she was late getting back, in fact this was just the start of the strange occurrences she’d have.