Injustice: The Path to Hell

Birds of Prey

Chapter LXII - Horrifying Healing

Monday 5th July 2010, 00:20.
Washington D.C,
Cadmus Research Facility.

Black.

Everywhere he looked, left and right, front and back, up and down, all he saw and was surrounded by was darkness and he hated it. Just pure, darkness, an endless void of pure pitch black, nothingness as he floated there helplessly. He almost felt sick, the feeling of weightlessness as he just floated there, suspended with no way to gain any semblance of equilibrium. As seconds turned to minutes, and minutes to hours, Esau quickly lost track of how long he had been here.

Days?

Weeks?

Months?

He didn't know.

All he knew, was that he was alone, continuously floating.

"Esau?" A feminine voice called. "Esau, where are you?" The woman sang out in a voice so painfully familiar to him that he felt his heart clench painfully. His eyes searched hopelessly, desperately trying to find the owner of the voice but like always, all that greeted him was the endless void of darkness. "Esau, I'm gonna eat all your pizza if you don't come out."

"Mum." He whispered hoarsely, tears pooling in the corner of his eyes and as if by some command, light engulfed the area, blinding him.

A shriek pierced the area and Esau opened his eyes to see a young blonde-haired child, no older than six running down a small corridor of the house he now found himself in. The child's little feet rapidly pattered along the floor as he giggled happily as he ran from a beautiful woman with red hair, just the sight of her had Esau brought to his knees as he watched her scoop up the child causing him to shriek happily.

She in turn was laughing as she brought the young child up and lathered a number of kisses to his face, the child himself just happily lapped up the attention as all young children did and then looked at her with a big smile on his face. "I caught you!" She declared boisterously with a cheer that the young child copied as she carried him into the kitchen. "Now come on, sweetheart. Teas ready and then we can go see daddy, yeah?" The young Esau nodded his head with a large smile on his face.

"Yeah!" He cried out happily and Joan just laughed, placing a big kiss on Esau's forehead.

As the mother and son duo happily ate their food, Esau found himself frozen, unable to move from his position on his knees as he watched them. He was transfixed by the sight of her, his beautiful, kind, happy and alive mother, there eating with him when he was a child. Just the sound of her voice made his long-suppressed feelings come forth and Esau felt a few lone tears trailing down his cheeks. Yet he couldn't even muster the strength to move, terrified that even the slightest movement would cause this all to end.

'Is this real?' He asked himself, already knowing the answer but refusing to accept the simple truth that he had never come to terms with. 'How is this possible?' He couldn't understand how any of this was real, how could his mother be here?

How could he be so young?

How could they be so happy?

'Please, please let this be real.' He begged, closing his eyes and willing himself to wake up and find himself there with his mother, but when he opened his eyes, he was once again in the same place, watching as his younger self and Joan happily finished off their ramen.

"Honestly, Esau," Joan muttered with find exasperation as his younger self finished off his last slice of pizza, tomato sauce covering his cheeks and a few strands of cheese dangling from his mouth. "You're such a muck tub." She teased with a smile on her face as she got a cloth and wiped the cheese and sauce from his cheek.

As he watched, Esau slowly rose cautious and wary that this entire thing could end in an instant.

It didn't and once he rose to his feet, Esau moved forwards and reached out for his mother.

He just had to know, was any of this real?

Yet just as his hand should have touched her shoulder, his hand went straight through and Esau choked, the air freezing in his lungs.

Facing twisting into one of anguish, Esau dropped to his knees and released a cry of anger.

He was so close, so close and yet he couldn't even reach her!

With another roar of anger, Esau punched the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Again and again, Esau punched the hard ground as he roared in anger at the injustice of it all.

Then he gave in.

He gave in to the ocean of rage that had been deep beneath the surface, unaware of the consequences that would come about due to such a decision.

Monday 5th July 2010, 00:20.
Washington D.C,
Cadmus Research Facility.

The roar that ripped from Esau's mouth shook the entire room and seemingly the entire building as they call covered their ears to try and block out the sound, Superman's clone was not so lucky as he collapsed to his knees in agony. It wasn't just the volume of the roar, but the anger and rage in it that shook them to their very core, whoever or whatever was making these sounds, they weren't human.

Esau reached forwards, beginning to step out of the container he had been trapped in, lips pulling back in a snarl revealing sharp fangs and eyes narrowed making him appear more animalistic and wild. That strange aura about him, the one that made him seem inhumane, that enchanting wildness disappearing in an instant and replaced with animalistic rage that seemed to emanate off him.

Unfortunately for Kid Flash, he was not only the closest to Esau, but he was unable to stop himself.

Every fibre of his being was shocked into silent terror as he looked upon the blood-red eyes that locked onto him. He didn't know how or why, but the room around him seemed to be swallowed in darkness, a mass of black shadows rising up and swallowing Esau. All that remained were those hauntingly, hypnotic blood-red eyes that looked through him, not even recognising his existence as anything over than prey.

'Stop!' He cried mentally, only for his body to not heed his command, it was like it was stuck on autopilot, just carrying out its last command; running straight towards Esau and while the world around him slowed to a stop, he could see it. 'I'm going to die.'

The shadows dispersed and the world quickly sped up when Esau moved, his clawed hand coming up and reaching out for him. Yet despite realising it had all been part of his imagination, it was too late to stop himself and unlike his mentor, he was not very agile. More so than most certainly, but it was something he had been told time and time again he had to improve on and now it was something he wished he had done.

As soon as Esau's fingers wrapped around his face, Wally found his forward momentum completely halted, his body jerking to a halt as his legs continued forwards only to lift off the ground till he was nearly parallel to it. The grip upon his face was crushing as he was held in their air, his body going limp as if surrendering to its fate, his heart pounding heavily as his eyes widened in fright.

He only got a single moment to see the glare sent his way before he was slammed into the ground, the force behind it buried him deep into the ground and his vision darkened. Only catching a glimpse of the person they came here to save released a savage roar of victory before unconsciousness claimed him.

It had all happened in the blink of an eye, the roar followed by Kid Flash being quickly knocked unconscious.

Batgirl, Robin and Killer Frost didn't even catch what happened, one second Esau had roared his entrance to the world and the next, Kid Flash was unconscious at his feet. However, the others had seen it, only just and they found themselves unable to come to terms with what they had born witness to.

'Did dad know about this?' Rose questioned, tensing up in preparation when she noticed Esau lower himself onto all fours as he growled at them. 'Did he want this?' She couldn't think about this anymore as the ground beneath Esau's feet cracked as he burst forwards at explosive speeds.

He roared once more, quieter and feeling less powerful, Esau leaping through the sky towards the largest group of people, one hand drawn back. Aqualad and Robin jumped away, both moving to put some distance between them and the berserk Esau, the clone on the other hand was unable to. The roar had impacted him the most, his enhanced senses amplifying the roars and stalling him, yet he recovered enough to catch Esau's punch in one hand. The power behind it released a second boom as powerful winds threatened to pick Ravager and Killer Frost off their feet, all of them raising their hands to protect their faces.

With nary a grunt, the clone of Superman stood firm, glaring at Esau who returned it with even greater rage, the clone clenching his fist and throwing it forwards. Much like he had, the berserk Esau attempted to block the blow only for the strength behind it to be too great for his body to handle, breaking his hand and carrying through to strike the blonde across the cheek.

Blood splattered into the air as Esau was sent careening through the air back to and through the pod he had been held in and would have continued going had he not slammed into the wall on the opposite end of the room.

Yet despite all that power, Esau rose to his feet without a pause.

His cheek was bruised and blood streamed from his nose and mouth.

The hand he had used to try and block the clone's punch was twisted and mangled, all the way up to his elbow.

But before their eyes, they watched and heard as the bones snapped back into place rapidly, steam wafting from his face as the blood stopped flowing from his nose and lips, the bruise disappearing entirely. In a matter of seconds, all damage dealt to Esau was gone and would appear unharmed had it not been for the blood still upon his face.

'What the hell did they do to you?' Robin questioned in shock at what he had just witnessed.

So, another chapter is done and I hope you all enjoyed it. Anyway, if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.